Brazil’s Copel sets safety standards for working at height

Brazil utility Copel reports becoming a reference for Latin American countries for its approach to working at height.

Copel reports having a longstanding interest in the development of techniques and equipment for working at height.

While working as a civil maintenance supervisor, Sidnei Garcia, a Copel technician who instructs in the topic, was one of the first to adopt in the mid-1990s the parachutist belt as protective equipment for maintenance work on power plant suction pipes.

The device is now widely adopted, and became the rule in the company since 2006, well before the incorporated into Brazil’s safety regulation on working at height.

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At the time, Copel was a contributor to the constitution of the standard and subsequently began to be sought to demonstrate this and other works, such as the technique of tying ladders, ways to make a safe rescue and the maintenance of towers and large structures in hydroelectric plants.

Subsequently, Copel has been called on to share this knowledge and reports having been invited in the last three years to provide training in energy companies in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay – in some cases where standard techniques for working at height were not known.

“Within Copel, safety is a premise protected by a set of standards called ‘golden rules’,” says Garcia.

“For us, it is an honour to be able to share these rules and encourage the use of equipment that will contribute to the safety of our colleagues in other countries. We’ve had a very good return in all cases and a life that is preserved in this context has made it worth all the effort.”

Training groups typically number from 20 to 50 electricians and technicians, who are then able to spread the learning more widely in their companies.

Copel’s distribution subsidiary has a ‘working at height’ workgroup, as part of the programme for standardising activities in order to ensure safety across the company’s operations.

Its work includes periodic review of each activity carried out at a height of more than two metres in substations and on towers and poles.

Training also is given to future electricians and is part of the routine of Copel’s employees.

In addition to the use of the specific safety equipment for working at height, another feature of Copel’s approach is a detailed analysis of the risks prior to the execution of a task.