New Work at Height Regulations

New regulations on work at height will come into force on 6 April 2005, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has announced.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 consolidate previous legislation on working at height and will implement European Council Directive 2001/45/EC concerning minimum safety and health requirements for the use of equipment for work at height (the Temporary Work at Height Directive or TWAHD).

The Regulations will apply to all work at height where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury. They place duties on employers, the self-employed, and any person that controls the work of others to the extent of their control (for example facilities managers or building owners who may contract others to work at height). The Regulations will not apply to the provision of instruction or leadership in caving or climbing by way of sport, recreation, team building or similar activities.

The Regulations will require duty holders to ensure:

The Regulations include Schedules giving requirements for existing places of work and means of access for work at height, collective fall prevention (e.g. guardrails and working platforms), collective fall arrest (e.g. nets, airbags etc), personal fall protection (e.g. work restraints, fall arrest and rope access) and ladders.

Elizabeth Gibby, Head of the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Injuries Reduction Programme, said: "In 2003/4 falls from height accounted for 67 fatal accidents at work and nearly 4,000 major injuries. They remain the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the biggest causes of major injury. Preventing falls from height is a central part of HSE's Injuries Reduction Programme and these Regulations will provide the cornerstone for this programme to improve standards for work at height and thereby reduce deaths and injuries.

"These Regulations set out a simple hierarchy for managing and selecting equipment for work at height. Duty holders must:

She added: "The Regulations cover a wide range of industries and activities but we have developed some simple messages which we want to communicate to all industries. Our key messages are:

HSE will publish a simple guide to the Regulations. It will also promote the key messages with industry sectors and encourage them to review and develop their own specific guidance and advice for work at height.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (S.I.2005 No 735 will be accessible shortly via the HMSO website.

source: Employersnews.co.uk (Last Updated: Thursday, 17 March, 2005)

View more articles in our news archive >>