One of the most common types of accidents at work involves workers injured when falling from a height. In order to reduce the number of serious injuries sustained as a result of this type of accident at work the Work at Height Regulations 2005 were brought into effect on the 6th April 2005.

Types of accident covered

The regulations apply whether you work outdoors, indoors or underground, and there is no requirement for a fall to be from a minimum height, just that there is a risk of you falling.  This could include falls from:

• Platforms
• Scaffolding
• Buildings
• Ladders or stepladders

The regulations apply to any place or situation where you are required to work from a height; it does not have to be at your usual place of work.  Most places of work are covered including offices, shops and warehouses. However shipyards and docks are not included.

Employers have a responsibility for all workers in the workplace concerned, and all workers have a duty to comply with the regulations whether you are self employed, a contractor, permanently employed or temporarily employed.  In addition all workers including employees have a responsibility to:

• avoid working at a height wherever possible
• to use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where they cannot avoid working at height

Where it is not possible to eliminate the risk of a fall, employees must use work equipment or other measures to minimise the distance and consequences of the fall.

It is the responsibility of the every worker who has a duty to assess and consider the safety of those working at a height. They must:

• Properly plan and organise the work
• Undertake risk assessments
• Make sure that all those involved in working at heights are trained properly and competent
• Provide and maintain proper equipment for working at height and inspect the equipment regularly
• Specifically consider the weather conditions and if necessary postpone work until the weather improves
• Consider the risk from fragile surfaces and avoid them if possible
• Risk assess, provide and maintain personal safety equipment
• Prevent items falling and prevent a person being hit by a falling object, for example by restricting access to the area.

Examples of the Working at Height Regulations

Situations where the regulations will apply include:

• A shop employee using a ladder to change a light bulb
• A building owner who engages a roofing contractor
• A person hit by a box falling from a stack

Situations where the regulation will not apply include:

• A police officer riding a horse
• An instructor of a team building climbing activity
• A fisherman falling into the hold of a boat

As well as claiming for your injuries you can also look to claim for:

• Lost income.
• Treatment costs such as physiotherapy/long term care if needed.
• Out of pocket expenses such as medication etc.
• Gratuitous care and assistance from family and friends.
• All losses arising from and as a direct result of the accident.

In all cases you should use a solicitor who specialises in work injury claims and understands the strategies that insurers use to defend manual handling injury compensation claims and how to overcome them.  By using a specialist you are far more likely to receive the amount of compensation that you deserve.