Staying Alive: Preventing Serious Injury and Fatalities while Work at Heights – Enquiry Report

In April 2005, The Work at Height Regulations 2005 came into force and applies to all work where there might be a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury.   Since the introduction of the regulations, the UK has frequently had some of the lowest workplace fatality and serious injury rates in the EU.   In 2014, the UK had 0.55 fatalities per 100,000 employees, compared to similar industrial countries like France (3.14) and Germany (0.81).   In January 2018, the APPG on Working at Height launched an inquiry to investigate why workers fall from height, leading to death and serious injury, and to come up with a set of recommendations to reduce the overall number of falls.   The majority of the respondents believed that the principle of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 was broadly fit-for-purpose, however the interpretation and application of the legislation was varied.   In response, the APPG has developed a set of recommendations that we hope will foster genuine improvements to the work at height sector.   There has been a significant progress since the introduction of the 2005 Work at Height Regulations; however, it is clear that more must be done by policymakers, regulators and industry leaders to reduce the number of falls from height.   The inquiry highlighted new initiatives and innovations already adopted by the work at height sector to ensure the safety of their employees, from targeted training programmes to innovative approaches to inspections.   The Government has pledged to protect European Union-derived health and safety protections immediately after Brexit, but the longer-term effects of the UK’s exit from the EU remain unclear.   In this fast-changing regulatory environment, this report marks just the beginning of the APPG’ s work to ensure the 10 million people in the UK who work at height continue to do so without unnecessary risk of injury.   Download the full report here  

Working at Height Training

We offer an online course designed to cover all aspects of safety for employers or employees who's business involves regular working at height.   It is defined as any work on, below or above ground level where there is risk of personal injury through falling and/or potential risk to people below the work site being injured by falling objects.   Working at height is one of the more obviously dangerous working environments there is.   This makes it vital that you and your staff get the right information and training.   Our course covers the dangers, regulations, duty holder and employer responsibilities, the hierarchy of control, risk prevention and risk assessment.   See here for more information.