Horizon Platforms Blog

Health and safety are important in any workplace, and working at height is far from an exception. The HSE defines working at height as ‘work in any place where, without precautions, a person might fall a distance liable to cause personal injury’. Therefore, work at height is undeniably risky. However, with our essential steps, you can ensure your work at height task is as safe and compliant as possible.

In the UK, we are fortunate to have some of the strictest health and safety laws around the world which has given us a strong track record in reducing the overall number of accidents which happen in workplaces. As we work in the access platform hire industry, at Horizon Platforms, health and safety is our number one priority. So, we wanted to look at the impact that changes to health and safety regulation has had on the number of reported injuries and accidents across sectors.

As we move toward summer and warmer days are (hopefully) on the way for those of us in the UK, our health and safety experts wanted to highlight the importance of keeping safe when working in hot weather outdoors.

For employers, workplace sickness and absence play a huge role in team productivity, worker safety and cost to business. A 2023 study from HSE (Health and Safety Executive) took a deeper look into the financial impact sickness and injury had on businesses, individuals and government benefits from a monetary standpoint. We have taken a look at the findings to highlight the importance of worker health and safety and training for trying to avoid injury and reduce sickness, adding advice for employers on what they need to consider to avoid the impact of this for their businesses.

Working at height can be one of the riskiest things you do as an employee. It is the biggest cause of fatal workplaces injuries, according to HSE (Health and Safety Executive), and was the cause of 8% of all workplace injuries for the 2022/2023 period. The number of deaths caused by falling from height rose from 2022 to 2023.