Working at height remains one of the most hazardous tasks undertaken in the construction industry. What are the Working At Height Legal Requirements & Guidance we need to consider?
The legal requirements and guidance surrounding such activities are implemented to ensure the safety and protection of all parties involved.
In this blog, we will explore these regulations, their implications, and the best practices organisations must adhere to to maintain safety and compliance. The information provided aims to clearly understand the legalities and practicalities associated with the working at height regulations, ultimately contributing to a safer working environment.
Who must adhere to Working at Height Regulations?
Working at height regulations apply to employers, employees and the self-employed who undertake any work activities with a risk of falling from one level to another.
Employers must ensure that individuals are adequately trained and qualified in safe methods of working at height before taking part in any activity to prevent falls. They also need to provide all necessary equipment and take reasonable steps to maintain the safety of everyone in their employment.
Employees must also adhere to any working at height legal requirements provided by employers and observe all relevant health and safety regulations. Furthermore, they are responsible for correctly using any supplied equipment and reporting any hazards or potential risks they may encounter when working at height.
Self-employed individuals should be aware of their legal responsibilities towards themselves and anyone else who may be affected by their work activities. They should also have appropriate insurance and qualifications to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Working at Height Safety - Legal Requirements
The following legislation, standards and guidance have been considered as working at height legan requirements when assessing the individual needs and then recommending and installing the product solution.
• Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended)
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Work at Height Regulations 2005
• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007
• Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
• BS EN 365:2004 Personal Protective Equipment Against Falls from a Height
• BS 8437:2005 Code of Practice for Selection, Use and Maintenance of Personal Protection Systems and Equipment for use in the Workplace
• HSG/33 Health and Safety in Roofwork
Hierarchy of Controls
When working at height, The HSE Hierarchy of Controls follows a specific order. The top priority is to eliminate the need for working at height through proper design and planning. If that's not feasible, the next step is to provide collective or non-user participant solutions.
If those are not practical, personal or user-participant solutions should be implemented. And as a last resort, demarcation of the work area from the edge should be provided, ensuring a safe distance of at least 2 meters.
Naturally, other factors will also affect the final product solution; these may include:
► Frequency of access and duration. (Carrying out an activity twice a year is frequent)
► Risk Assessments (Statistically, there are far more reported injuries to workers below 2m in height than above)
► Minimum height consideration
► Pendulum effect
► Buildings structure
► Planning issues
Following is an overview of the key areas of legislation and standards related to working at height. More detailed information can be found at www.safesite.co.uk, under the Download section.
Legislation
HEALTH & SAFETY AT WORK ETC. ACT 1974
The Health & Safety at Work etc Act is an “Enabling Act” which allows the Secretary of State to make further Regulations without the need to return to Parliament. The Act imposes a duty of care on everyone related to their roles at work. This includes employers, employees, owners, occupiers, designers, suppliers, manufacturers and the self-employed.
Key sections include:
Section 2: concerns the main legal duty of employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of employees by providing a written health and safety policy, safe plant and systems of work and to provide information, training and supervision.
Section: 3-4: details an employer’s duty to ensure that people not in their employment (e.g. contractors, sub-contractors, the general public) are not exposed to risks to their health & safety. There is also a general provision for monitoring both employees and persons not in their employment to ensure compliance through method statements, risk assessments and general health & safety policies a specific activity.
Section 37: covers the personal liability of Directors. If a corporate body commits an offence or can be attributed to the neglect of a director or other senior officer of that corporate body, both the corporate body and the person are liable to prosecution.
WORKPLACE (HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE) REGULATIONS 1992
Regulation 5: Maintenance – stipulates that the workplace and any equipment, devices and systems must be maintained in efficient working order. This includes guardrails, equipment for window cleaning and anchorage points/systems for safety harnesses.
As a general recommendation, Safesite advises annual inspection and certification of all guardrails, fall arrest systems, restraint systems, and fabricated steelwork as we have found that these products are often tampered with by other trades, leaving them unsafe to use.
Regulation 16: Windows – requires that windows and skylights are designed so that they can be cleaned safely and that account should be taken of any equipment used in conjunction with the window or skylight or of devices fitted to the building.
This may include fitting access equipment or providing ‘suitable conditions’ for the future use of mobile access equipment, including ladders up to 9m long. Adequate access and a firm and level surface on which to stand any equipment must be considered. Where a ladder over 6m long will be needed, suitable points for tying or fixing the ladder should be provided.
Also, suitable and suitable anchorage points for safety harnesses should be provided. Refer to BS 8213 Part 1 2004 Windows, doors and roof lights for further information.
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AT WORK REGULATIONS 1992 (AS AMENDED)
The main working at height legal requirement for personal protective equipment (PPE) is supplied and used at work wherever there are risks to health and safety that cannot be adequately controlled in other ways.
Regulation 4: PPE should always be regarded as the ‘last resort’ to protect against risks to safety and health. If the risks cannot be controlled by other means, then employees must provide appropriate PPE and have appropriate training in its usage.
Regulation 5: Where more than one item of PPE is being used simultaneously, the different items must be compatible with each other and adequately control the risks against which they are provided to protect.
Regulation 7: Provision must be made for the maintenance, cleaning and replacement of equipment.
Regulation 9: Employers must provide information, instruction and training on the risks, use, maintenance, cleaning and replacement of equipment.
PROVISION AND USE OF WORK EQUIPMENT REGULATIONS 1998
Regulations 5 & 6: Work equipment must be maintained in a safe condition and inspected regularly to ensure that it continues to be safe for use. Inspections must be recorded and carried out by a competent person and records must be kept.
These regulations build on the general duty of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires work equipment to be maintained so that it is safe for use.
Safesite recommends that for work at height equipment inspection, you should include, where appropriate, visual, and functional checks and testing.
Regulations 8 & 9: all those using the equipment must have adequate training, instruction and information.
These regulations build on the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 to provide employees with the information and instructions that are necessary to ensure their health and safety. They also link to the Management Regulations, which require providing employees health and safety information.
MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK REGULATIONS 1999
Regulation 3: Requires all employers and the self-employed to assess the risks to workers and any others who may be affected by work on their premises.
WORK AT HEIGHT REGULATIONS 2005
The Regulations apply to virtually all industrial sectors and relate all work at height where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause injury and place a duty on employers, the self-employed and any person who controls the work of others to do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent anyone from falling.
Regulations 4 and 6(1, 2): cover the important area of planning. All work at height must be properly planned, supervised and carried out in a safe manner. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations must be taken into account when planning for the work, as must planning for emergencies and rescue.
Regulations 5 and 6(5)(b): All those working at height must be competent and be trained on how to avoid falling, to minimise or avoid personal injury should they fall as well as how to use relevant equipment.
Regulation 8: covers the requirements for collective safeguards for arresting falls and stipulates that a sufficient number of available people must have received training specific to the safeguard, including rescue procedures.
CONSTRUCTION (DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT) REGULATIONS 2007
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM2007) came into force on 6th April 2007 and bring together CDM 1994 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) (CHSW) Regulations 1996 into a single regulatory package.
The key aim of CDM2007 is to integrate health and safety into the management of a project and to encourage everyone involved to work together to:
• Improve the planning and management of projects from the very beginning
• Identify hazards early on so that they can be eliminated or reduced at the design or planning stage and any remaining risks can be properly managed
• Target effort where it can do the most good in terms of health & safety
• Discourage unnecessary bureaucracy
The new CDM 2007 Regulations are divided into 5 parts:
• Part 1 deals with the application of the Regulations and definitions.
• Part 2 covers general management duties which apply to all construction projects, including those that are non-identifiable
• Part 3 sets out additional management duties on notifiable projects. In other words those lasting more than 30 days, or involving more than 500 person days of construction work.
• Part 4 contains practical requirements that apply to all construction sites.
• Part 5 contains the transitional arrangements, cancellations and amendments.
CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER AND CORPORATE HOMICIDE ACT 2007
This Act sets out a new offence for convicting an organisation where a gross failure results in a person’s death, making it easier to prosecute companies, corporate bodies, partnerships, local authorities, trade unions and government departments who fail to protect people.
Courts will now consider how a fatal activity was managed or organised throughout the organisation, including any systems and processes for managing safety and how these were operated in practice.
If found guilty an organisation can expect to face unlimited fines and be given a remedial order whereby the judge specified exactly what measures the employer must take to ensure that future fatalities do not occur.
In addition a publicity order can be issued where the company will be required to publicise details of the conviction including the offence, amount of fine and terms of the remedial order.
Standard and Guidance
BS EN 365:2004 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AGAINST FALLS FROM A HEIGHT
This standard sets out the requirements for using, maintaining, examining, repairing, marking and packaging PPE equipment.
Safesite recommends that all equipment such as vertical and horizontal lifeline systems, track systems, eyebolt, anchorage systems, guardrails and restraint systems are re-certified annually as specified in this standard.
BS 8437:2005 CODE OF PRACTICE FOR SELECTION, USE AND MAINTENANCE OF PERSONAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT FOR USE IN THE WORKPLACE.
This standard is relevant to employers, employees and the self-employed using personal fall protection systems and equipment. In addition to guidance and recommendations on the selection, use and maintenance of the various safety equipment used, guidance is also given on the rescue of people working at height should an accident occur.
When selecting work equipment/methods, it is essential that you can justify why the appropriate equipment/method has been chosen. This means demonstrating why safer alternatives required by the hierarchy have been ruled out.
The following table outlines this selection process.
HSG33 HEALTH AND SAFETY IN ROOFWORK
HSG 33 addresses the main problems associated with falls from height, including falls through fragile materials and unprotected roof edges. The guidance is aimed at anyone planning, arranging or supervising roof work or work on roofs and covers work on new buildings, repair, maintenance, cleaning, and demolition.
The guidance aims to promote roof safety by helping to identify the main cause of accidents and ill health and explaining how to eliminate the risks associated with roof work.
Key additions to the Guidance include:
Competency
When employing a company to carry out any form of roofwork it is essential that the company and its workers are competent. Competency includes:
• Knowledge of the work being undertaken
• Experience of the latest techniques, standards and materials so that the work can be carried out safely. This would ideally be through membership to a relevant trade organisation so that they are updated regularly on changes to legislation and standards.
• Training or accreditation by a recognised training body. Training should include safe working practices as well as health and safety issues relating to their work such as COSHH, asbestos, manual handling, risk assessments, work at height and work at height rescue.
Rescue procedures
Rescue of a person or people must be planned for under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The proposed method must be proportionate to the risk and may include simple measures such as using a MEWP or ladder to reach the victim, or simply lowering them to safety. This is the preferred option as it overcomes manual handling issues, but whatever method is chosen it is essential that all those who are likely to be involved are fully trained.
Once the rescue has been completed, the casualty should be laid down and standard first aid guidance for the post recovery of a semi conscious or unconscious person should then be followed by a competent first aider.
If a conscious casualty can not be released immediately from a suspended position, their legs should be elevated by either the rescuer or casualty themselves, to prevent falls and help suspension tolerance.
Training and Competence of Roof Workers
All those working on a roof need to have the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to carry out the work safely and competently. Those who are training or less experienced will require supervision by a competent person.
Competency is an ongoing process which is developed through work experience and regular training. Workers must be trained in all health and safety issues specific to their trade, including the risks they might encounter such as asbestos or fragile materials.
Training for roof workers should ideally include the relevant health and safety disciplines including Work at Height (covering the regulations, risk assessments, selection of work equipment and rescue training),
PPE, ladders, MEWPs and PASMA in addition to more specialist areas such as first aid, asbestos awareness, COSHH, risk assessor and fire safety.
Rescue training must be provided for people who are likely to be involved with a rescue. Initial training should be carried out by the supplier of the rescue system and should include a simulated exercise to assess the trainee’s competence. Refresher training must be carried out every six months and should include an assessment of competence by carrying out a simulated rescue.
Compliant Solutions You Can Trust
Safetsite fall protection solutions go above and beyond in meeting the working at height legal requirements. We offer comprehensive fall protection solutions designed to ensure worker safety in elevated environments.
We understand that one-size-fits-all approaches do not suffice regarding worker safety. Our expertise in customisable fall protection systems ensures that each worker is equipped with the right tools and equipment for their specific working environment.
By exceeding the minimum requirements set by working at height legal requirements, Safesite provides businesses with the peace of mind that their workers are protected, and their operations comply with working at height regulations.
We also offer comprehensive inspection and certification services to ensure businesses maintain regulatory compliance. With our expertise in various industries, we provide meticulous inspections, giving businesses the peace of mind that they are meeting all necessary regulations and safety standards.
Whether it's elevator inspections, solar energy testing, or infrastructure projects, Safetsites' commitment to excellence sets us apart as a trusted provider of inspection and certification services.
