Work at height
The Work at Height Regulations (2005) define work at height as:
- work in any place, including a place at or below ground level;
- obtaining access to or egress from such place while at work, except by a staircase in a permanent workplace,
where, if measures required by the regulations were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury.
In February 2019, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Working at Height published Staying Alive: Preventing Serious Injury and Fatalities while Working at Height calling for a more robust system of reporting workplace falls, overseen by an independent body and with financial penalties for breaches.
In November 2019, the Access Industry Forum published Safety Steps, working at height guidance.
Articles about working at height on Designing Buildings include:
- BS 7883.
- BS 7883 guide released.
- Collective restraint system.
- CONIAC produces essential messages on safe work at height.
- Crane regulations.
- Dynamic self-retracting lanyard.
- Facade access equipment.
- Facade cleaning.
- Facade maintenance.
- Fall arrest system.
- Fall prevention system.
- FASET (Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training).
- Glazier.
- How to remove scaffolding.
- How to use a ladder.
- Lift table.
- Lifting device.
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER).
- Lifting platform.
- Lifts
- Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs).
- Post lift.
- Roped access for conservation projects.
- Safety systems for working at heights.
- Scaffolding.
- Scissor lift.
- The Importance of Working at Height Training.
- Types of crane.
- Types of scaffolding.
- Working at height - our duty to prevent harm and protect each other.
- Work at height checklist for managers.
- Work at height regulations.
- Work at height rescue plan.
- Working at height training.
- Working platform.
- Working platforms for tracked plant: good practice guide to the design, installation, maintenance and repair of ground-supported working platforms.
Featured articles and news
Change of use legislation breaths new life into buildings
A run down on Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order.
Solar generation in the historic environment
Success requires understanding each site in detail.
Level 6 Design, Construction and Management BSc
CIOB launches first-ever degree programme to develop the next generation of construction leaders.
Open for business as of April, with its 2026 prospectus and new pipeline of housing schemes.
The operational value of workforce health
Keeping projects moving. Incorporating unplanned absence and the importance of health, in operations.
A carbon case for indigenous slate
UK slate can offer clear embodied carbon advantages.
Costs and insolvencies mount for SMEs, despite growth
Construction sector under insolvency and wage bill pressure in part linked to National Insurance, says report.
The place for vitrified clay pipes in modern infrastructure
Why vitrified clay pipes are reclaiming their role in built projects.
Research by construction PR consultancy LMC published.
Roles and responsibilities of domestic clients
ACA Safety in Construction guide for domestic clients.
Fire door compliance in UK commercial buildings
Architect and manufacturer gives their low down.
The new towns and strategic environmental assessments
12 locations of the New Towns Taskforce reduced to 7 within the new towns draft programme and open consultation.
Buildings that changed the future of architecture. Book review.


















