Health and safety concern over historic tower
Safety and health concerns for workers can present themselves in a number of ways. For example, a council is now dealing with a health and safety concern with a historic tower. It is 100 feet tall and the council is worried about the workers climbing ladders to change the lamp that is in the top of the tower. The health and safety at work laws dealing with heights has made using ladders unsafe. This would mean a need for scaffolding to change the West Yorkshire’s Victoria Tower. The steps inside the tower have been blocked off due to health and safety concerns from the 1950s. In 1977, the lantern was replaced with a new lamp and the tower has been hit by lightning three times. The council did allow the ladders to be strapped to the side of the hilltop for safety, but now this has also been banned.
It has made it difficult to determine how the lamp can be changed and it seems as though the cost might be closer to £900 than the usual affordable fee. There are also issues with local companies who might change the lamp not wanting to go all the way to the top due to the dangers and the need to figure out a safer system. It might lead to the closing of the tower or a full refurbishment to make it safer to change the lamp. After all, if the stairs were usable the issue of safety would be lessened. Things such as this should make any construction company think about working at heights and how to make it safer.
