Working at Height

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 brought a new, single set of regulations to the UK, covering work at height activities for all businesses. The HSE reports that over 4,000 employees suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height in 2008/09.

It is important to understand that these regulations apply not just to Construction but all sectors of business and all sizes of business including many that may not have considered that they have a work at height issues. Examples where businesses have not considered their work at height issues include:

• Access to and from the back of a lorry for deliveries
• Putting posters up (eg: in a School), using a chair for access is not acceptable
• Simple maintenance tasks (eg: window cleaning, cleaning leaves out of gutters, painting edges of flat roofs from the roof)
• Control of contractors working at height on their premises

 

The regulations require every business to:

• Avoid work at height if possible
• Prevent falls by using suitable means of working at height, if work at height is unavoidable, and if so, 
• Mitigate the consequences or distance of any potential fall.

 

The regulations also require businesses to consider the need for collective protection over personal protection (for example, guardrails which protect everyone are more significant than harnesses which protect individuals, particularly important when working on roofs).

Work at Height must also be properly organised, planned and supervised by people who are competent and knowledgeable enough to select the safest solution. Does your business have a competent person?

With nearly 20 years experience of providing advice to clients on work at height issues, Safety and Access is uniquely placed to deliver a wide range of services, including:

• Work at Height safety audits
• Development of Work at Height specifications and procedures
• Work at Height planning, co-ordination and supervision – including the pre-contract planning of major projects
• Work at Height training needs analysis please see Work at Height under our Training tab for information on work at height training courses

 

Please click on the links below for our service specifications PDF downloads:

Work at Height Safety Audits

Work at Height Specifications/Procedures

Work at height Planning/co-ordination

Work at Height training needs analysis

We also have specific expertise relating to Scaffolding; please see Scaffolding Safety under our Consultancy tab or the Scaffolding under our Training tab for more information.

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