A guide to working at heights in the UK

Falls while working at height are one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death in the UK. This article considers what working at height means and what steps can and must be taken to ensure safety in these circumstances.

What is working at height?

A reference to working at height usually conjures up mental images of cranes and scaffolding on construction sites - yet, the definition stretches over any working environment where a person could fall, including even climbing activities done as part of work or team building exercises.

Why is it dangerous?

When workers operate at different levels, there is potential for injury to be caused in so many different ways. A typical case is where someone falls from a height, for example from scaffolding. Yet, injuries can also occur where objects, such as working tools, fall from height, injuring people below, or where floors or ceilings collapse. A slipping accident at height contains potential for far more serious injury.

What are the rules and regs?

In the UK, legal requirements for working at height are governed by the Working at Height Regulations, which give effect to European legislation. These place a duty on employers to do everything that they can to prevent falls. Every such workplace has to be subject to careful analysis and planning, which goes in three stages: 1. 1. Avoid work at height if possible. Anything that can be done at ground level, should be. 2. 2. Use work equipment or other measures to avoid falls where possible; this includes providing proper guard rails and harnesses. 3. 3. Use work equipment or other measures to eliminate the consequences of a fall, should one occur; this includes the use of nets and protective safety equipment.

General measures

Employers are also required to consider factors such as the weather (as it is easier to slip in wet weather), that those involved in work at height are properly trained and competent (for example, have had proper scaffolding training), and that the place is generally safe. They also need to assess the safety of any fragile surfaces or working platforms to ensure that things or people can not fall through, and that objects are properly secured or attached (for example, by means of a tool lanyard) to minimise their risk of falling.