Work safely at height or in a confined space

Assess the risks of working at height

You must consider the specific risks posed by working at height as part of your overall health and safety risk assessment.

You'll need to look at the risk of all falls in your business and take specific precautions where it's possible for anyone to fall a distance liable to cause personal injury.

Injuries are often caused by falls from:

• ladders
• incomplete scaffolding
• roofs and roof edges - particularly fragile roofs
• gangways and catwalks
• vehicles
• not using the right access equipment

The poor selection, use and maintenance of equipment causes falls, for example, using a ladder because it's easier than erecting a tower scaffold. Ladders should only be used for low risk, short duration work, eg work which takes minutes not hours to complete.

Employers, the self-employed and any person who controls the work of others have a legal duty to ensure:

• all work at height is properly planned
• those working at height are competent or supervised
• the risks of working on or near fragile surfaces are properly controlled
• equipment for working at height is properly inspected and maintained

Work at height must be avoided where possible and equipment must be used to prevent or minimise the consequences of falls where working at height is the only option. You should only consider the use of personal fall protection equipment, eg work restraints, to prevent or minimise the consequences of a fall when collective preventive measures, eg scaffolds and cherry pickers, are not practical.

As well as the risks posed by the work at height itself, consider those caused by falling objects and by accessing the work location. For example, climbing on and off a roof or using ladders can pose significant risks.

Download the guide on five steps to risk assessment from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) website (PDF, 78K) - Opens in a new window.

Subjects covered in this guide

Introduction
• Assess the risks of working at height
• Plan work carried out at height
• Make sure roofs, working platforms and walkways are safe
• Reduce the risks of objects falling from height
• What is a confined space?
• Assess the risks of confined spaces
• Manage the risks posed by confined spaces

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