Work at height
| Work at height | |
| Principal instrument | The Work at Height Regulations 2005 |
|---|---|
| Parent Act | Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 |
| Applies to | Employers, the self-employed, and those controlling others' work |
| Height threshold | None; the Regulations are not limited by a minimum height |
| Relevance | All roof cleaning is work at height |
Work at height is work in any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. In Great Britain it is governed by the Work at Height Regulations 2005,[1] made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.[2] All roof cleaning is work at height, and the Regulations apply to it whether the work is done from a ladder, a scaffold, a tower, a mobile elevating work platform or from the roof surface itself.
Who the Regulations bind[edit]
The Regulations apply to employers, to the self-employed, and to any person who controls the work of others to the extent of that control.[1] A sole trader cleaning a roof is within them, which is a point often missed: the duties do not attach only to large firms with safety departments.
There is no minimum height at which they begin to apply. The test is whether a fall could cause personal injury, not whether the work is above a stated distance.[1]
The hierarchy[edit]
The Regulations set out an order of preference rather than a list of permitted equipment. Work at height should be avoided where it is reasonably practicable to do the work otherwise; where it cannot be avoided, work equipment or other measures should be used to prevent a fall; and where the risk of a fall remains, measures should be taken to minimise the distance and consequences of one.[1]
Applied to roof cleaning this ranking has a practical consequence. Methods that can be carried out from the ground or from a platform, rather than from the roof surface, sit higher in the hierarchy than those requiring an operative to walk the roof, and that is a regulatory consideration rather than only a commercial one.
Fragile surfaces[edit]
The Regulations deal specifically with fragile surfaces, requiring that a person does not pass across or work on one where it is reasonably practicable to do the work otherwise.[1] Roof coverings vary widely in what they will carry, and a covering that supports a person when new may not do so after decades of weathering.
This matters directly to method selection: the question of whether a roof can be walked is a question about that roof, not about roofs in general, and it is one that has to be answered before the work rather than during it.
What the Regulations do not do[edit]
They do not license roof cleaning, certify contractors, or set a standard for the cleaning itself. They regulate the manner of working at height and nothing about the outcome on the covering. A contractor can comply with them fully and still damage a roof, and the consequences of that are a matter of contract and of the material's own tolerances rather than of these Regulations.
See also
- Roof cleaning
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
- Pressure washing a roof
- Moss scraping
- Natural slate roofing
References
- abcdeThe Work at Height Regulations 2005. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05
- ^Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05