Working at height equipment should be used wherever work is being carried out at height.
Previously, the height at which work became ‘work at height’ was 6ft. Although legislation has since been updated to define work at height as ‘work in any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury’, this belief persists.
Whether the job is being performed on a rooftop, alongside a pit, or even below ground, if there is a risk of a fall likely to cause injury, then you are working at height, and the correct working at height equipment must be implemented.
What types of working at height equipment are there?
Working at height equipment designed to protect workers at when at working at height, can generally be broken down into two categories, collective and personal.
Collective fall protection solutions are designed to protect anyone accessing the area from the risk of falls, no matter their level of training or PPE. A good example of a collective safety solution is rooftop guardrails, the much preferred solution of any working at height equipment. These are placed at the leading edge of the roof, or around another fall hazard, to prevent anyone from getting close enough for a fall to occur.
Guardrails and other collective solutions are generally preferable to personal solutions as they do not require activation, training, or additional PPE to function.
Personal solutions, meanwhile, are designed to protect those who use them. Examples include anchor points and roof lifelines. These systems are only effective when ‘activated’ with a harness and lanyard.
The work at height Hierarchy of Control states that, where possible, collective solutions should be prioritised over personal solutions, but these systems are often used in sync for maximum protection.
The right system for your needs will depend on a range of factors, so you should carry out a risk assessment and rooftop survey to identify the best solution for you.
What regulations apply to safe working and working at height equipment at height?
In general, the Health and Safety at Work Act applies to work at height, as it places a legal responsibility on employers and other key duty holders to protect those at work with all necessary planning, equipment, and training.
More specifically, the Work at Height Regulations exist to ensure work at height can be carried out safely by placing specific, legal requirements on employers and others to protect anyone carrying out work at height.
The Work at Height Regulations also set out a ‘hierarchy of control’ when assessing planned work at height. It states that duty holders must, in order:
Avoid any work at height if at all possible.
Do everything possible to eliminate the risks to employees when work at height is unavoidable
Take steps to minimise the distance and consequences of any potential fall when risks can’t be eliminated
Essentially, duty holders must plan work properly, carry out a risk assessment, and then implement any and all measures - including installing the correct working at height equipment - to keep workers safe.
These regulations also create a legal requirement for duty holders to have equipment regularly inspected and re-certified to ensure it is safe to continue using. As a general rule, personal working at height equipment and systems such as anchors and lifelines should be inspected and re-certified at least annually, with checks carried out prior to each use.
Although there is no legal requirement for collective solutions to be inspected and recertified, duty holders should consider doing so, as although these systems have fewer moving parts, they can and do fail. If an HSE investigation discovers that a system is no longer fit for purpose, or the system fails leading to an accident, you could find yourself in hot water.
Safesite has been a leading designer and supplier of safety equipment across London and the South East for decades. For more information about any of our systems and solutions, get in touch.
