Falls from height are consistently among the largest causes of death at work in Great Britain, and the pattern in the investigations is not what people expect: most of it is short duration work on ordinary buildings rather than steel erection. That is why the definition is broad, why there is no minimum height, and why the regulations set an order of controls rather than a list of equipment.
Definition of working at height, in the regulations' own words
Work at height means work in any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. Three things follow and each catches somebody out. There is no minimum height: a fall into an inspection pit or off a low kerb onto a projecting bar is within the regulations, and the two metre figure people still quote belongs to a repealed set of rules. It includes falling THROUGH something, so a fragile roof, a rooflight, an unprotected opening and a covered hole are all work at height even though the surface looks solid. And it includes obtaining access to and egress from a place of work, so a ladder used only to reach a flat roof is inside the regulations even if the work itself is at ground level once you are up there. What is excluded is a slip or trip on the level, which the general duties cover instead.
Working at height risks, in the order they actually hurt people
Ranked by what appears in real incidents rather than by what training materials emphasise: falls from ladders and stepladders during short tasks, which is the single largest group; falls through fragile roofs and rooflights, often on maintenance visits to industrial buildings; falls from unprotected edges and through openings, including openings created that morning; being struck by a falling object or tool, which injures the people below rather than the person at height; collapse or movement of the access equipment, usually a tower assembled wrongly or a ladder on a soft or sloping base; contact with overhead electrical services while moving equipment; weather, which is the factor that turns a routine job into an incident; and the manual handling of the equipment itself. The last one is the rescue problem: somebody left suspended after a fall needs recovering within minutes, and a plan that does not exist before the work starts will not be invented during it.
The risk of working at height that the hierarchy answers first
The regulations do not ask which equipment to use, they ask three questions in order. First, can the work be avoided altogether: done from the ground, with a pole, with a camera, by lowering the thing to be worked on. A surprising amount of routine maintenance can be, and that is the control nothing can defeat. Second, if it cannot be avoided, can a fall be PREVENTED, and here collective protection comes before personal: a permanent platform, a tower, a powered access platform or edge protection, before any thought of personal fall arrest, because collective measures protect everybody including the people who did not read the method statement. Third, if a fall cannot be prevented, can the DISTANCE and CONSEQUENCES be minimised, with nets, airbags or a fall arrest system, in that order. Around all three sit the organisational controls: planning, competence, inspection of the equipment, and not working in unsuitable weather.
A working at height risk assessment template uk sites will accept
A template is accepted or rejected on four things, and the shape of the form is not one of them. First, that it works through the hierarchy in order and shows the answer to each step: whether the work can be avoided, then whether a fall can be prevented by collective means, then what minimises the distance and consequences, with a reason recorded where a step was rejected. Second, that it names the actual access equipment, the duration and the position, because a form saying suitable access will be used says nothing. Third, that it covers the things below and around the work: the exclusion zone, falling objects, overhead services, the public, and the ground conditions under the equipment. Fourth, that it has a rescue plan, which is the field left blank on most templates and the one a principal contractor checks first. Add the weather triggers and who stops the job, and a two page assessment will pass where a twenty page template will not.
What is the definition of working at height for access and egress
The definition reaches the journey as well as the job, and that is the half people miss. Work at height includes obtaining access to or egress from a place of work, except by a staircase in a permanent workplace, so climbing a ladder to reach a flat roof is work at height even if everything done on the roof happens at floor level. The consequences are practical. The ladder used only for access is inside the regulations and has to be justified, secured and inspected like any other equipment. A tower erected only to get somebody onto a mezzanine is work equipment for work at height. And the route down counts too, which is why a job that ends with somebody lowering tools and then descending in the dark is a planning failure rather than bad luck.
Define working at height for a two storey house
On an ordinary house the definition catches more than the roof. Gutter clearing at eaves level, obviously. But also a first floor window from a ladder, a loft hatch where the drop back down the stairwell is open, a flat garage roof with an unprotected edge, and standing on a stepladder over an open stairwell, which is the one that produces the worst domestic falls because the fall distance is a full storey rather than the height of the steps. The other domestic trap is the fragile surface: a conservatory roof, a garage with corrugated sheeting, or a rooflight painted over on a flat roof, none of which will hold a person and all of which look walkable. For a homeowner the practical reading is that if a fall from where you are standing would reach a lower floor or a hard edge, the regulations' logic applies even where the regulations themselves do not, because they bind employers and the self employed rather than householders.
Questions people ask about risks of working at height
Are ladders banned?
No, and the belief that they are does real harm, because it pushes people into pretending they used something else. A ladder is an acceptable option for low risk, short duration work where the assessment shows that more substantial equipment is not reasonably practicable. What the regulations require is that the choice is justified, that the ladder is the right class and in good condition, that it is secured and set at the right angle, and that three points of contact are maintained. The problem in practice is not the ladder, it is the twenty minute job that becomes an hour and the person leaning sideways with a drill.
Does fall arrest equipment satisfy the regulations?
Only where nothing higher in the hierarchy is reasonably practicable, and even then it raises two questions most sites answer badly: what the lanyard is anchored to, which has to be a tested or engineered anchor rather than a convenient pipe, and how somebody suspended after a fall is recovered within minutes. Fall arrest equipment with no rescue plan converts a fall from a fatal injury into a suspension injury, which is an improvement and not a solution. Collective protection is preferred precisely because it needs no plan afterwards.
Who has to inspect access equipment, and how often?
Equipment for work at height is inspected before first use in a new position and at intervals set by the risk, and anything a fall could result from is inspected at least every six months with a record kept where the regulations require one. In practice that means a pre use check by the user every time, a documented inspection of a tower after erection and after alteration, weekly recorded inspections of scaffolds in use, and a competent inspection of fall arrest equipment and lanyards at least every six months with the certificate retained. The habit that catches faults is the pre use check, because the recorded inspection happens on a calendar and the damage happens on site.
What is classed as working at height?
Any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury, including at or below ground level, and including getting to and from that place. There is no minimum height in the regulations, which is the part people get wrong: a fall into an opening in a floor, or off a low platform onto something hard, is within scope. If the question is being asked to find out whether a job is exempt, the answer is usually that it is not.