Anyone directly or indirectly involved in work at height: employers, employees, supervisors, the self-employed, those in control of work premises have duties and responsibilities under legislation. Previously working at height was defined as being ‘above 2 metres’ – the principle issue with this was that approximately half of the fatalities involving working at height came from falls of less than 2M, so clearly something had to change. Following an EU directive in 2001 the definition of work at height was changed to working in a place where a person could be injured by falling from it, even if it is at or below ground level. Whilst this brings in many new areas under the remit of the regulations it really only pushes for common sense and good practice which should have been in play in the first place if employers were properly exercising their duty to ‘provide a safe place of work’ There were many misconceptions initially – ‘the EU wants to ban stepladders’ was a headline – it doesn’t, it simply asks if the stepladder is the best method of approaching the task. Many construction sites have brought in their own regulation to prohibit ladders from sites or to strictly control their use, but it is not enshrined in the working at height regulations. The Work at Height Regulations applies to all work at height where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury. They place duties on employers and the self-employed. What are your duties as an employer?
- You must do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent anyone falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.
- The Regulations set out a simple hierarchy for managing work at a height:
- avoid work at height where this is reasonably practicable;
- use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where you cannot avoid working at height; and
- where you cannot eliminate the risk of a fall, use work equipment or other measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall.
The Regulations also require employers and the self-employed to ensure that all work at height is properly planned, organised, supervised and carried out in a safe and controlled manner, taking account of the weather conditions, the competence of the workers, the equipment being used and the working environment. Requirements for working at height Part 4 of the General Application Regulations requires employers to carry out a risk assessment for all work conducted at height and to put in place arrangements for: • eliminating or minimising risks from working at height; • safe systems of work for organising and performing work at height; • safe systems for selecting suitable work equipment to perform work at height; and • safe systems for protecting people from the consequences of work at height. Including falling objects and fragile surfaces. The risk assessment and the action taken should be proportionate to the harm thatcould occur if no action was taken. As with all activates in the workplace, consideration must be given to all mitigating factors and effective controls must be put in place to eliminate or reduce the risk as required. If you need assistance, guidance or further information please contact us on 01 855 50 50 and one of our experienced advisors will be happy to assist.
