On site
What is working at height?
Working at height is work in any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury. Falls from height remain the largest single cause of fatal injury in construction.
The regulations set a hierarchy: avoid working at height where possible, prevent falls where it is not, and mitigate the consequences where a fall cannot be prevented. Collective measures come before personal ones.
It includes falls below ground level and through fragile surfaces, which is why openings, voids and roof lights account for a substantial share of incidents despite not looking like height.
Equipment has to be inspected, and some of it on a defined regime with records — which is a separate obligation from the general duty to plan the work.
What goes wrong in practice
- Personal fall arrest used where a collective guard rail was practicable.
- Fragile surfaces and openings not treated as working at height.
- Access equipment used without the inspection regime it requires.