16.1 Introduction

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 came into force on 6 April 2005. They replaced other requirements dealing with work at height, including parts of the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. In introducing the regulations, the HSE referred to the annual accident toll in the UK from falls from height between 50 and 60 fatalities and around 4000 major injuries.

The Regulations themselves do not contain a separate requirement for risk assessment. However, particularly in Regulation 6 (Avoidance of risks from work at height) and Regulation 7 (Selection of work equipment for work at height), the Regulations introduce specific criteria which must be taken into account when carrying out a risk assessment under Regulation 3 of the Management Regulations. Several other Regulations also contain specific requirements of relevance during a risk assessment. The hierarchical approach to avoidance of risk contained in Regulation 6 matches that taken in other regulations, particularly the COSHH Regulations (see 9.11: hierarchy of measures).

16.2 The Regulations summarised

Various terms are defined in Regulation 2 including:

construction work this has the meaning assigned to it in the CHSW Regulations 1996 and includes many types of work not traditionally regarded as construction, e.g. electrical installation;

fragile surface a surface liable to fail if any reasonably foreseeable loading were to be applied to it;

ladder includes a...