Falls from height are still the biggest single cause of fatal injury in UK construction, and the frustrating part is that the vast majority of them are not falls from scaffolds or roofs. They are falls from ladders, from steps, from the back of a van, from a couple of metres up. The kind of height nobody bothers to think about.
The rules around this are less complicated than the trade generally believes, and a lot of what gets repeated on site is simply wrong. This is a plain-English run through what the Work at Height Regulations 2005 actually require, what an inspector will look at, and what kit is worth having.
What the Regulations Actually Say
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 came into force in April 2005 and they still apply, unchanged in substance, across every UK industry – not just construction. They apply to employers, to the self-employed, and to anyone controlling the work of others.
There are two things worth knowing up front.
First, there is no minimum height. The old two-metre rule was abolished in 2005 and it is still quoted on site every week. The Regulations apply wherever a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury. That includes off the back of a Transit, off a bench, off the second tread of a stepladder onto a concrete floor.
Second, the Regulations do not ban anything. They do not ban ladders, they do not ban stepladders, and they do not require a harness. What they require is that you follow a hierarchy of control and that the equipment and the people are suitable for the task.
The Hierarchy – Avoid, Prevent, Minimise
Everything in the Regulations flows from three steps, in order.
1. Avoid Working at Height
If the job can be done from the ground, do it from the ground. Extendable poles for cleaning and painting, assembling on the deck and lifting into place, ground-level testing points. This is the step everyone skips because it sounds like a slogan, but it is the one that removes the risk entirely rather than managing it.
2. Prevent Falls
If you have to work at height, use equipment that stops a fall happening. Guardrails, a properly built tower, a scaffold, a MEWP with the gate closed, working platforms with edge protection. This is collective protection – it works whether or not the individual does the right thing, which is why it sits above personal protective equipment.
3. Minimise the Distance and Consequences
Only when a fall cannot be prevented do you move to minimising it – nets, airbags, and personal fall arrest systems. A harness is the bottom of the hierarchy, not the top. If your answer to a fall risk is “we wear harnesses”, the first question you will be asked is why you were not using a platform instead.
Ladders – What Is and Is Not Allowed
Ladders are not banned and never have been. The Regulations place them low in the hierarchy, which means you use one where a risk assessment shows the work is low-risk and short-duration and a safer alternative is not reasonably practicable.
In practice, HSE guidance treats short duration as broadly up to around thirty minutes in one position. That is a guide rather than a legal cut-off, but it is the number that gets used.
Beyond that, the rules are the ones you already know and probably do not always follow: three points of contact, the ladder secured at the top or footed, a firm and level base, no overreaching, no carrying loads that stop you gripping, no top three rungs of a leaning ladder, no top step of a stepladder unless it is designed with a handhold above it.
The most common thing that gets a trade pulled up is not the ladder itself. It is using a ladder for a job that clearly takes two hours, in full view, when there is a tower on site.
Towers – Where Most Enforcement Happens
Mobile access towers generate a disproportionate share of enforcement notices, usually for the same handful of things.
Building without the manual on site. Missing braces because someone was in a hurry. Stabilisers not deployed or not deployed to the manual’s positions. Climbing the outside of the tower rather than the internal ladder. Moving a tower with someone still on the deck. Mixing components from two manufacturers. No inspection record.
Every one of those is avoidable and every one of them is visible from the other side of the site. If you own a tower, keep the manual with it in a bag strapped to the frame, and keep the inspection sheet with the manual.
Inspections are required before first use, after alteration, after anything that could affect stability, and at least every seven days where a person could fall 2m or more. The record needs to be kept for three months from completion of the work.
Harnesses and Fall Arrest
A fall arrest system is only useful if all four parts are right, and in practice at least one of them is usually wrong.
The Anchor
This is the part people get wrong most often. An anchor point needs to be rated – typically 12kN for a single user – and it needs to be above you where possible. Clipping to a scaffold tube of unknown adequacy, a rainwater pipe or a roof vent is not an anchor point, it is a hope.
The Harness
A full body harness, EN 361, correctly adjusted. Leg straps that you can fit a flat hand under and no more. A harness that is loose enough to be comfortable is loose enough to injure you badly in a fall.
The Connector
An energy-absorbing lanyard or a self-retracting fall arrest block. The critical calculation is clearance: a standard 2m lanyard with a deployed shock absorber plus your body length needs roughly 6.5m of clear space below the anchor. If you have 4m, the lanyard will not save you. Use a retractable block or a work restraint system instead.
The Rescue Plan
This is the requirement almost nobody has in writing. If someone falls and is left suspended, suspension trauma can become life-threatening within minutes, and “we’ll call 999” is not a rescue plan. You need a means of getting them down quickly and someone who knows how to use it. If you cannot describe your rescue plan, you should not be using fall arrest.
Also worth knowing: work restraint – a system short enough that you physically cannot reach the edge – is far better than fall arrest wherever it is possible, because nobody ever falls.
Training and Competence
The Regulations require that anyone working at height, or supervising or planning it, is competent – meaning the training, knowledge and experience to do it safely. There is no single legally mandated course, but there are recognised tickets that principal contractors will ask for.
PASMA is the standard for mobile access towers. The Towers for Users course is a day and the card lasts five years. IPAF is the equivalent for MEWPs – scissor lifts and cherry pickers – and again, the card is what site security will ask to see. IRATA covers rope access and is a different world entirely.
Online working-at-height awareness courses cost around £25 and are useful for general induction and background knowledge, but they do not replace a practical ticket. You cannot learn to build a tower correctly from a video, and no site will accept a certificate that says you watched one.
What an Inspector Actually Looks At
If an HSE inspector walks onto a job where work at height is happening, the sequence is fairly predictable.
They look at what is in front of them – is anyone on a ladder doing something that plainly needs a platform. They look at the tower for missing components and undeployed stabilisers. They ask who built it and whether that person is trained. They ask for the inspection record. They ask to see the risk assessment for the specific task, not a generic one downloaded three years ago.
The paperwork matters more than most sole traders expect. Two firms doing identical work with identical kit can end up in very different positions purely because one of them can produce a task-specific assessment and an inspection log and the other cannot.
FAQs
Is there a minimum height before the Regulations apply?
No. The two-metre rule was removed in 2005. The Regulations apply to any fall liable to cause injury, including from a low step onto a hard floor.
Do I need a harness on a scaffold tower?
Not normally. A correctly built tower with guardrails in place is collective protection and is a higher-order control than a harness. Harnesses are more commonly required in MEWPs, particularly boom lifts.
Can I work off a stepladder all day?
You should not. Stepladders are for short-duration, light work. If the task takes hours in one position, a podium step or a low-level tower is both safer and considerably less tiring.
How long do I keep tower inspection records?
Three months from the date the work is completed, kept at the site where the work is being done.
Does this apply to me as a sole trader?
Yes. The Regulations apply to the self-employed in respect of their own work as well as to employers. Working alone does not exempt you.
When does a harness need replacing?
Immediately after any fall arrest event, at the manufacturer’s stated lifespan, or whenever inspection finds damage to webbing, stitching or hardware. Formal inspection by a competent person is required at least every six months, and more often in harsh conditions.
The Short Version
Do it from the ground if you can. If you cannot, use something with a guardrail. Treat a ladder as a way of getting somewhere rather than a place to work, and keep the work on it short. Keep the tower manual and the inspection sheet with the tower. Get the PASMA ticket if you own a tower.
And if your fall protection plan depends on a harness, be able to explain in one sentence how you would get someone down. If you cannot, the plan is not finished.
This article is general guidance for UK tradespeople and is not a substitute for a task-specific risk assessment or formal training. Refer to current HSE guidance for the definitive position.
