What is Edge Protection?

“Prevent persons or objects falling”

Edge protection is a broad area of construction site safety, but one of the most important when it comes to ensuring the safety of your site. A large number of fatal accidents in construction areas are related to working at height, either from falling from or through a high surface or from having an object fall on you. This is why edge protection solutions are imperative, as their primary function is: “to prevent persons or objects from falling to a lower level”. A clear and crucial mission statement, but inarguably one with a very broad scope.

There are many different situations in which a worker can be said to be “working at height”, and many different scenarios that could lead to an accident because of this- there has to be an edge protection solution in place to safeguard against all of these. There are a range of different products available aimed at either reducing the impact of falls, or preventing them from happening in the first place: Catchfans to prevent any fallen objects reaching the ground or damaging the structure, personal protection systems to protect individual workers in the case of falls, and the simplest solution: rails and fences to prevent falls before they happen.

Catchfans

Catchfans are essentially double layered nets that rest at angles on the side of the structure to absorb the force of any object that may fall from the edge. This minimises the damage caused by such an incident, by catching it before it can hit a member of the public or cause any damage to the structure of the building itself.

These come in different sizes to accommodate both smaller and larger projects, and can be fitted to both steel frames and reinforced concrete, making them a solution for the majority of projects to ensure the safety of the site and the workers.

V-Barrier Systems

These provide high quality steel fence systems that can be fitted to the edges of any platform through drilling, clamping, cast-in or free standing to prevent any person or object falling from the edge of a platform.

These are available in a variety of heights to fit the need of your specific site, with full and half height options as well as a make-up barrier to extend the height of a current barrier.

Fall Arrest Systems

These are personal protection systems that anchor a single worker to the ground, aimed at reducing any impact should they fall.

The Alispercha is a steel frame that allows the worker to move around a 6.5m radius whilst conducting their work in a harness attached to a column anchored to prevent any falls from impacting the worker.

The Alupercha is the lighter weight version of this, with an aluminium frame and slightly larger 9m radius movement range. This can easily be carried and operated by one person, whilst still offering the utmost protection for the worker in the harness. With its built in shock absorber, the Alupercha aims to minimise the impact of any fall whilst still being quick and easy to install, making sure there are no excuses for avoiding edge protection measures even for the smallest and most short-term projects.