The law in this area is covered by The Work at Height Regulations 2005. I shall first deal with the general principles which are applicable in ensuring safe work practices which are to be both followed and applied in the work place.
An obvious but important point to make – Woking at Height; is very, very dangerous!
There are 3 major changes which have been implemented to the Regulations which you should be aware of:
1) Risk Assessment – key objectives:
Organisation, planning and the use of competent employees. The above Regulations impose an ‘absolute duty’ on your employer to ensure that a risk assessment is carried out in all instances whereby employees shall be working at height. A risk assessment is NOT an optional extra as some insurers may argue! Failure to carry out a risk assessment will be deemed to be a breach of duty and thus negligence by your employer’s.
The ‘2-metre’ rule – This is no longer in place:
There is no specific height now, whereby ‘special’ precautions have to be taken. No matter what height you are to be working at, your employer must make sure all known precautions are put in to place to ensure your safety, even if this is to include precautions which would not ordinarily be implemented. The only remaining legislation which refers to this particular rule is that under Regulation 12 (4) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005. It states that should you be working at a height of 2 metres or more it MUST be inspected every 7 DAYS.
Inspections:
A system is now in place whereby your employer must have implemented a system for inspecting the working conditions. If a claim is made by an employee the documentation which should have been generated regarding inspections will be important and failure to provide this could prove to be a breach of the Regulations by your employer.
To recap:
You must be aware of your employer’s duties to you under this Regulation. They MUST carry out a risk assessment; the 2 metre rule is no longer in place unless you work at more than 2 metres, in which case it should be inspected every 7 days and your employer MUST implement a proper system for inspecting your working environment.
