Marshall Fleet Solutions (MFS) has launched a new Working at Height platform as a safer alternative to ladders.
The commercial vehicle specialist is fitting the platform to its fleet of engineer vans to ensure maximum safety for employees working at customer sites.
Falls from height, including ladders, are one of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries.
The new safety-tested platform, which is designed and developed by MFS and said to be an industry-first, has achieved a 90% reduction in the need to work from a ladder, thereby reducing the risk of injuries while also bringing ergonomic improvements for employees, especially when replacing heavy or cumbersome parts.
Colin Wilkinson, head of health & safety at MFS, explained: “Working from ladders has sometimes been the only option to our fleet engineers until now. We developed this platform because we recognised that this was a widespread issue that needed to be addressed and we had a responsibility to find a safe, sensible and low-risk solution for our engineers to use daily as an alternative to using ladders.”
The new platform is easy to deploy and also reduces the manual handling risks associated with carrying ladders.
The development process explored a wide range of situations outlined in Work at Height Regulations that could potentially compromise worker safety, including location, duration and frequency of usage.
The introduction of the final platform followed an in-depth process of trialling and testing, supported throughout by MFS customers.
Mick Pethard, head of engineering at Gist, said: “Working safely at height is of the utmost importance to our daily working practises. We have been actively involved in the process of trialling and testing this cutting-edge platform developed by Marshall Fleet Solutions and see it as an essential and welcome addition to health and safety in our sector.”
