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
Government outcome to the late payment consultation, ECA reacts.
IHBC 2025 Gus Astley Student Award winners
Work on the role of hewing in UK historic conservation a win for Jack Parker of Oxford Brookes University.
Future Homes Building Standards and plug-in solar
Parts F and L amendments, the availability of solar panels and industry responses.
How later living housing can help solve the housing crisis
Unlocking homes, unlocking lives.
Preparing safety case reports for HRBs under the BSA
A new practical guide to preparing structural inputs for safety cases and safety case reports published by IStructE.
Male construction workers and prostate cancer
CIOB and Prostate Cancer UK encourage awareness of prostate cancer risks, and what to do about it.
The changed R&D tax landscape for Architects
Specialist gives a recap on tax changes for Research and Development, via the ACA newsletter.
Structured product data as a competitive advantage
NBS explain why accessible product data that works across digital systems is key.
Welsh retrofit workforce assessment
Welsh Government report confirms Wales faces major electrical skills shortage, warns ECA.
A now architectural practice looks back at its concept project for a sustainable oceanic settlement 25 years on.
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
Government report and back track on copyright opt out for AI training but no clear preferred alternative as yet.
Embedding AI tools into architectural education
Beyond the render: LMU share how student led research is shaping the future of visualisation workflows.
Why document control still fails UK construction projects
A Chartered Quantity Surveyor explains what needs to change and how.
Inspiration for a new 2026 wave of Irish construction professionals.
New planning reforms and Warm Homes Bill
Take centre stage at UK Construction Week London.
A brief run down of changes intentions from April in an onwards.





















