A working at height risk assessment template UK contractors can use has a fixed set of rows, because the hazards of height are the same on every site and the regulations ask the same questions. The HSE's work at height law page, cited below, states the purpose of the Work at Height Regulations 2005: to prevent death and injury caused by a fall from height. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, cited below, requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, and regulation 3(6) requires an employer with five or more employees to record the significant findings and any group of employees especially at risk. The risk assessment template on this site prints these rows sized to the task, free and without an account.
The fall
Who is at risk, how, and the answer to the three questions in order: can the work avoid height; what prevents the fall; what minimises it. The control named is the platform, the tower, the edge protection or the fall arrest, with the rescue plan for the last. Residual risk after the control.
The equipment
The ladder, tower, scaffold or MEWP: the right equipment for the duration and the risk, inspected by a competent person before use, the inspection recorded, secured and used as designed. A row for the equipment and a row for its inspection, because the inspection is the control that gets skipped.
Fragile surfaces, dropped objects, weather, public
The roof light or the conservatory below, never stepped on and marked. Tools and debris, with the exclusion zone and the bucket. Wind and rain, with the limit at which the work stops. The public and other trades below, with barriers and a banksman. Each a row with a control and a residual risk.
The record and the method
Significant findings, author, date, reviewer, review date on the page. The method statement places each control at its step and holds the rescue plan in the emergency block. The risk assessment and method statement tool on this site prints both; DailyLogDesk Pro keeps them against the job.
Questions people ask about working at height risk assessment template uk
Do the regulations apply to a one-metre step?
The regulations apply to any height from which a fall could cause injury; the assessment is proportionate to the risk.
Is a rescue plan always needed?
Wherever a fall arrest system is used, yes; on a guarded platform the emergency arrangements cover it.
Is the template free?
Yes, without an account.