Working at height

Legislation & Your Responsibilities

Work at height activities

There are several activities that involve working at height such as working in a cherry picker or cradle, on a raised surface such as a roof, operating a tower crane, on a wind turbine, up a telegraph pole on scaffolding or even cleaning windows.

Work at height - Avoid, Prevent & Mitigate Model

Legislation such as Work at Height Regulations 2005, are designed to put safety at the centre of all work at height projects.

Work at height avoid, prevent and mitigate model - an industry standard helping to maintain safe systems of work for working at height

Avoid

Working at height legislation requires you to do everything you reasonably and practicably can to avoid working at height, but this may not always be feasible.

Where work at height is carried out, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person from falling, as it likely to cause personal injury, by ensuring work is carried out from an existing safe place of work.

Sufficient training & equipment help prevent, where reasonably practicable falls from height,

Prevent

When it is not reasonably practicable for work to be carried out as above, sufficient work equipment and training are to be provided to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, a fall occurring.

Minimise

Where the above measures do not eliminate the risk of a fall occurring, every employer shall, so far as reasonably practicable, provide sufficient work equipment to minimise the distance and consequence of a fall.

Work at height - organisation responsibilities

If your organisation undertakes working at height, whether at regular intervals or occasionally, it is essential that you as an employer fully understand your responsibilities towards any employee you are expecting to undertake work at height.

Work at height - employee responsibilities

As an employee, you also have a duty of care to ensure that you have taken all necessary precautions and a thorough risk assessment has been undertaken prior to any work starting.

At height workers need to better understand work at height regulations for safer working

A better understanding of working at height regulations and legislation will help to:

Understand the work at height hierarchy
Implement safe systems of work (work restraint, work positioning and full arrest)
Produce a safer workforce
Understand responsibilities
Achieve compliance with working at height regulations
Reduce the risk of precaution