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
Check out some of the best features and news from Designing Buildings as well as key stories from around the web.
Gasholders: a history in pictures. Book review.
Recognition, influence and growth
SocEnv identifies three strategic pillars in new strategy to 2045.
Discover the future of roofing, cladding and insulation.
New guidance for professional practice, cultural change and regulation in social housing.
The heritage of nuclear and conventional power stations.
New measures to stop people being ripped off
Government to protect families from cowboy builders and aggressive bailiffs.
New Futurebuild showcase brings an innovation-first approach.
National Planning Policy Framework
Understanding the 2026 changes.
ECA's public affairs priorities
Member consultation opens to shape priorities for 2027 to 2030.
Dutyholder responsibilities from 1 July 2026.
Where performance meets practice
The Building Envelope Stage at UKCW Birmingham.
CIAT publishes briefing on planning reforms.