Putting the Art into Height Safety at the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield

eurosafesolutions eurosafesolutions.co.uk Putting the Art into Height Safety at the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield was opened in 2011 and designed by architect David Chipperfield. The structure is composed of ten blocks, each with a pitched roof and clad with self-compacting pigmented concrete over insulation - a very unusual construction technique and the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. Award Winning Gallery In 2012, The Hepworth was named 'Regional Building of the Year' by RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and THE HEPWORTH won Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017. WAKEFIELD The Requirements The Hepworth Gallery required access to their low-pitched roofs to facilitate safe working at height when carrying out external glazing cleaning and general maintenance. The concrete design of the building resulted in a thin roof construction, so the gallery needed to ensure that any systems installed were fit-for-purpose, fully tested and compatible. With such a prestigious and architecturally prominent building, it was imperative that the chosen system also suited the design of the building. REQUIREMENTS The Solutions A full site survey was undertaken by Eurosafe Solutions Ltd and a bespoke system of 30 ManSafe posts (approximately 240 m in length) - finished with traditional ManSafe components - was specified and installed. Due to the revolutionary thin roof construction, the end loads for the system needed to be severely restricted. In order to increase the amount of energy absorbed within the system and therefore reduce the load back to the roof (should a fall occur), Eurosafe made use of a Latchways Super12 Shock Absorber per system - reducing any load down to a maximum 15 kN. Due to the design of the building, there were many different levels and sections of the roof to access. Eurosafe Solutions installed a range of ladders to ensure that all areas were safely and easily accessible. The end result was an aesthetically pleasing fall system that could be used by 2 individuals at a time to provide a complete fall protection solution - minimising the Work at Height risk and enabling a controlled means of access to the roof. Mansafe System Testing Latchways Mansafe Systems are horizontal safety lines designed to keep people safe whilst working at a height. The word mansafe is often used to describe different equipment such as eyebolts, guardrails or ladders but is a specific brand name of Latchways for their horizontal fall protection systems. Mansafe systems can be designed for restraint purposes, (to prevent a fall occurring) but must be able to take fall arrest loadings in accordance with EN795 and the equipment be misused. Latchways Mansafe systems allow safe access to operatives undertaking maintenance works. A mansafe fall protection system can be designed as either fall restraint; the system is installed typically no less than 2m from the fall hazard, thus, the mansafe fall restraint user is restrained (as a would be a child in reins) or, as fall arrest where the user is exposed to the potential fall hazard - but the mansafe system would arrest the user in the event that a fall occurred. To find out more information please visit www.eurosafesolutions.co.uk/service/test-inspection/fall-protection- eyebolt/latchways-mansafe-test-inspection/ Our Services Include: Roof Assessment & Evaluation Test & Inspection Plan of Safety at Height Management System Action & Programme of Requirements Training & Education Installation & Implementation Sheffield, UK eurosafesolutions Unit 51b Dorehouse Ind Est Orgreave Drive Sheffield, S13 9NR 0114 250 7411 eurosafesolutions.co.uk E [email protected]