Working at Heights Refresher Safety Training
April 1, 2018, marked the inaugural training anniversary for Ontario’s mandatory Working at Heights Safety Training, which includes a requirement for half-day refresher training within every three years of the original date of training.
Here we are at the close of 2019 with lots of workers not aware that Working at Heights Refresher training is required to maintain certification. Let us explain.
When is Working at Heights Refresher training required
Workers who have completed a CPO-approved Working at Heights Safety Training course, and whose work is covered by the Regulations for Construction Projects, are required to take the half-day Working at Heights Refresher safety training course within three years of completing the training, in order to keep their certification in good standing.
For workers covered by all other regulations, including the Regulations for Mines and Mining Plants and Regulations for Industrial Establishments, training frequency is determined by the employer, but it is recommended that successful participation in refresher training is conducted at least every three years.
Topics covered
- Warning methods, such as signage, bump lines and barriers, used to identify fall hazards to workers to prevent falls from heights
- Different types of work positioning systems that may be available to safely perform a variety of tasks at heights, including scaffolds and powered elevating work platforms
- Different types of personal fall protection systems, including their limitations, appropriate uses, components, and set-up
- Hands-on experience setting up, wearing and using personal fall protection equipment.
Prerequisite
Successful completion of CPO-approved Working at Heights Safety Training.
Who should attend
The refresher course focuses on the practical aspects of using fall protection systems and other equipment used for working at heights, and is intended for workers, supervisors, joint health and safety committee members, health and safety representatives or anyone else who works at heights, works with, or supervises people who work at heights.
For workers using equipment such as elevating work platforms or aerial lifts, suspended access platforms or swing stages and ladders, Working at Heights and Working at Heights Refresher training is required.
Learners in both programs learn about personal protective equipment, such as travel restraint, fall restricting, and fall arrest systems and how they all work. Physical inspection of harnesses, donning harnesses, learning how to tie off using ropes and rope grabs, and transferring from one line to another using double lanyards is included in both programs.
Unfortunately, as accidents and fatalities continue from activities where workers are working at heights, the chance to refresh learning is prudent. Workers should also be aware of their right to refuse unsafe work, use their equipment properly, and to report any hazards they see. Workers need to register for Working at Heights Refresher course to maintain certification and when their job requires them to work at heights.