Why Fall Protection Is Essential When Working With Shipping Containers

Accidents involving shipping containers can occur at any stage of the journey, with falls from height being one of the most serious causes of fatal and life-changing incidents. Implementing a fall restraint or fall arrest system is, therefore, an essential factor to mitigate these risks. In this article, we’ll address the question of why full protection is an essential safety consideration in container handling and what you can do to improve safety.

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There Are Three Types Of Fall Protection Provided For  Working At Height

1. Personal fall arrest systems are designed for individual employees and usually consist of a body harness attached to an anchor or lifeline. If the worker falls, the impact force is distributed across the body, minimising serious injury (although not always preventing it entirely).  Personal fall arrest systems can be manufactured to protect more than 1 worker.  Netting systems can also be used as a fall arrest control measure.

2. Work or fall restraint systems are designed to prevent the worker from accessing a live edge.  The harness will be attached to a fixed length lanyard.  In the hierarchy of fall protection this is better than fall arrest.

3. Collective edge protection is designed to protect any number of people from accessing a live edge.  This option eliminates the risk of falling.  This is the best level of protection.  The SHEARFORCE Container Collective Edge Protection provides this level of safety and it can be enhanced further with the use of our fall arrest netting and toe boards.

Best Practices For Shipping Container Fall Protection:

  • Implement an appropriate fall protection system for your application: Implementing a suitable fall protection system for your facility, such as ConCEPS from SHEARFORCE, which is a Collective edge protection  system, will give you secure attachment points for the ends of shipping containers, reducing the risk of falls during container operations. 
  • Train stakeholders in safe working practices: Many of the accidents that occur on or around shipping containers result from insufficient training in safe working practices. Even when workers have a general awareness of working from height , they may not be properly prepared for the specific challenges of a maritime or portside environment, such as limited visibility, vibration, noise, inclement  weather, fork trucks accidently hitting containers and the dangers of improperly secured shipping containers. Providing comprehensive training on safe handling techniques and the proper use of fall protection equipment is, therefore, essential for avoiding accidents. Establishing clear health and safety policies and standards tailored to shipping container operations will help increase safety and reduce the likelihood of fall-related accidents.

    Work At Height Regulations Compliance:

     In the UK, working at height is regulated by the Work at Height Regulations 2005, which requires employers to ensure that all lifting and work at height operations are properly planned, supervised, and safely implemented. ‘Height’ in the Regulations is defined as any vertical distance in which a fall could cause significant injury. This obviously includes operations involving shipping containers, where the risk of falls is often significant even though the heights themselves aren’t that great. A standard shipping container is only 8’6” (2.59 m) tall, while a high cube container is 9’6” (2.9 m) in height. Falls from as low as 2 to 3 m can cause serious impact injuries to the head or neck, leading to long-term impairment, disability, or even death. The working height increases, of course, when dealing with stacked containers in container ships and port side facilities, with a fall from 6 m or higher often considered life-threatening.

What Next?

To learn more about our fall arrest restraint systems and other protection equipment, and how they can enhance your processes, please get in touch with the team at SHEARFORCE today by clicking here.

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Colourful shipping container stacked and ready to be used.