Your legal responsibility

You must do all that is reasonably possible to prevent anyone falling from a height. When you carry out your risk assessment, you must look at all work carried out at a height where there is a risk of falling. This includes work done at or below ground level.

Make sure you do the following:

• Avoid unnecessary people working at heights.
• Where this can't be avoided, use work equipment or other measures to prevent the risk from falls.
• Where you can't eliminate the risk of a fall, use work equipment or other measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a potential fall.

What law applies?

• The Work at Height Regulations 2005
• The Work at Height Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

The regulations cover many aspects about working at a height, including:

• Personal fall protection (such as work restraints and rope access)
• Means of access
• Working platforms
• Ladders and step ladders

How to keep employees working at height safe

When work at height is involved, you're legally responsible to make sure that:

• It's properly planned and organised
• It takes account of weather conditions that could risk health and safety
• Staff involved are trained and competent
• The place where it's done is safe
• The equipment is appropriately inspected
• Risks from fragile surfaces are properly controlled
• Risks from falling objects are properly controlled

Planning

The regulations require you to make a plan if staff will be working from a height. Therefore, you must:

• Look at ways that avoid working from a height if it is safe and reasonably possible to do it another way
• Ensure that the work is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in as safe a way as is reasonably possible
• Plan for emergencies and rescues
• Take account of your general risk assessment

More information

See either the HSE's subsite Work at height or, in Northern Ireland, the HSENI's 'Falls from height guide'.