One afternoon, I came across two employees working in a maintenance cradle at a height of around 25 metres on a newly constructed building in the Al Nahda area, Dubai, without any safety harness, which is mandatory.
Wearing a full-body harness when working inside a maintenance cradle offers workers extra protection. Should a cradle wire snap, dislodge, or structurally fail, the occupants can still be suspended without the risk of being thrown out if they wear a full-body safety harness and connect it to a life line. The workers I observed did not have any safety helmets either, which help prevent injury.
Gulf News has reported on people who have lost their lives due to similar reasons. Trakhees-EHS, the regulatory arm of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) Dubai, has clear regulations on the safe use of such cradles. According to official guidelines published by them, a full-body harness is mandatory, which should be attached to a designated point. Safety gear, such as helmets, gloves and overalls, should be provided to all workers.
I request the concerned authorities to include technical guidelines or a code of practice, on the safe use of maintenance cradles, and include this in the applicable legislation to ensure that there is adequate awareness amongst construction companies.
— The reader is a senior health safety environment and security advisor based in Dubai.
