SPLAT Work at Heights Awareness

Working at heights is a critical risk within the construction industry and remains a focus point for all work activities at Cook Brothers Construction. All our teams gathered together yesterday to take part in our Splat initiative to demonstrate the risk involved with working at heights. In a controlled environment on-site, our teams experimented with dropping objects from a height onto a watermelon. The watermelon represented a head, and the experiment was designed to illustrate the huge impact a small object can have when aided by gravity. 

The safety and well-being of our entire team and anyone who steps onto our site is our number one priority. This Splat initiative reminded our team of the risk of working at heights, the importance of wearing the correct PPE, following the correct controls implemented on-site, and the fact that our behaviour/rituals are actions we do out of habit. The development of one habitual behaviour on-site could significantly reduce the risk of an item falling from a height, so it is essential we do it right the first time. 

Work at heights training is crucial for construction. It is a top priority for Cook Brothers as it fosters a culture of safety, encourages continuous improvement, and protects the team on our construction sites. Our unwavering mission with Health and Safety is that everyone goes home safely to their whānu and friends at the end of the day. And once you go splat, you may never come back. We are committed to ensuring this never happens.