If you and/or your employees work at height, it is crucial to ensure that all work is carried out as safely as possible. Today, we're going to answer some frequently asked questions on the subject of working at height - if you're not sure what's required of you, read on to find out more about height safety and what you should be doing about it:

What counts as 'working at height'?

The HSE website defines 'work at height' as any work carried out in "any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury". You don't have to be a specific distance above the ground before you qualify - if there's a chance you could fall and hurt yourself, you're working at height.

How far can I fall without hurting myself?

Again, there's no objective answer to this question: if you suffer a fall, the severity of your injuries will depend on your age, your weight, the surface on which you land, the way in which you land, and dozens of other factors besides the exact height you fell from. People have been known to survive falls from several kilometres high; conversely, people have been seriously injured and even killed by falls of a few feet or even less. This is why there is no specified limit to what constitutes 'working at height' - even the smallest of falls can be catastrophic!

What precautions are legally required when working at height?

We answered this question last month - the Work at Height Regulations 2005 don't specify any particular equipment or required safety measures, but they do state the need for "sufficient work equipment" and a proper assessment of any height safety risks. It's basically up to you to decide what precautions and which pieces of equipment will best protect you and your workers, but you won't get away with not doing anything.

What should I use to protect my workers?

Your main aim when selecting height safety equipment should be to prevent a fall from occurring. This can be achieved with safety harnesses and fall arrest blocks. Some kind of edge protection system can also help to minimise the risk of an accident. Otherwise, height safety generally depends on common sense - see our height safety fails blog for some examples of what not to do.

Need some height safety equipment? Visit our Working at Height department.

If you and/or your employees work at height, it is crucial to ensure that all work is carried out as safely as possible. Today, we're going to answer some frequently asked questions on the subject of working at height - if you're not sure what's required of you, read on to find out more about height safety and what you should be doing about it:

What counts as 'working at height'?

The HSE website defines 'work at height' as any work carried out in "any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury". You don't have to be a specific distance above the ground before you qualify - if there's a chance you could fall and hurt yourself, you're working at height.

How far can I fall without hurting myself?

Again, there's no objective answer to this question: if you suffer a fall, the severity of your injuries will depend on your age, your weight, the surface on which you land, the way in which you land, and dozens of other factors besides the exact height you fell from. People have been known to survive falls from several kilometres high; conversely, people have been seriously injured and even killed by falls of a few feet or even less. This is why there is no specified limit to what constitutes 'working at height' - even the smallest of falls can be catastrophic!

What precautions are legally required when working at height?

We answered this question last month - the Work at Height Regulations 2005 don't specify any particular equipment or required safety measures, but they do state the need for "sufficient work equipment" and a proper assessment of any height safety risks. It's basically up to you to decide what precautions and which pieces of equipment will best protect you and your workers, but you won't get away with not doing anything.

What should I use to protect my workers?

Your main aim when selecting height safety equipment should be to prevent a fall from occurring. This can be achieved with safety harnesses and fall arrest blocks. Some kind of edge protection system can also help to minimise the risk of an accident. Otherwise, height safety generally depends on common sense - see our height safety fails blog for some examples of what not to do.

Need some height safety equipment? Visit our Working at Height department.

We're currently slap-bang in the middle of UK Health & Safety Week, an annual observance that aims to celebrate and promote health and safety while highlighting improvements that could still be made. The main event is the Safety & Health Expo, which is currently taking place in London, but people all over the British Isles have been getting involved, posting 'helfies' and sharing their stories of health and safety in action.

Of course, health and safety regulations are essential to the safety of practically everyone in the country, and yet the H&S industry tends to get rather a bad rap from the British press. For example, how often do you see headlines like these?

Yes, in spite of all the lives it saves, it seems that health and safety will forever be blamed for all sorts of silly little things. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) even has an entire blog dedicated to refuting such silly safety myths as "shop assistants can't use scissors" and "balloons are unsuitable for children's parties".

This being Health & Safety Week, we at SLG just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that health and safety isn't here to ruin your fun - it's here to save your life. Real health and safety (as opposed to the phoney kind that's almost always at the heart of silly stories like those mentioned above) is about wearing safety harnesses to prevent deadly falls and following the correct procedure when lifting dangerously heavy objects.

So next time you think of speaking ill of health and safety, just think about where we'd all be without it!

Health and safety play a vital role in every workplace, regardless of industry or job role. Whether you work in hospitality, healthcare or construction, health and safety is crucial for keeping both workers and the public safe, reducing expenses, ensuring legal compliance and a plethora of other reasons we will touch on in this article!

The key piece of legislation for people who work at potentially dangerous heights in Great Britain is The Work at Height Regulations 2005. As stated on the HSE website, this legislation was put in place "to prevent death and injury caused by a fall from height". The regulations state that work at height must be:

• Properly planned
• Appropriately supervised
• Carried out in a safe manner by competent personnel only

Interestingly, the 2005 regulations do not specify any particular equipment that must be used when working at height - they simply state the need for "sufficent work equipment" and remind employers that, when selecting appropriate height safety equipment for any given task, they must take account of working conditions, fall distance, the duration of the job, and several other factors.

In a nutshell: the law doesn't state that you HAVE to use a safety harness or a fall arrest block, but you are required to have some kind of fall prevention system in place, and the aforementioned items are among the most commonly-used solutions. In the end, it is up to you to decide what kind of equipment is most appropriate for the task at hand.

What will happen if I don't use any height safety equipment?

If one of your employees suffers an accident whilst working at height, you may investigated by the Health and Safety Executive. If they decide that you neglected to provide the right safety equipment or otherwise failed to fulfil your duties as an employer (as prescribed by the 2005 regulations and several other pieces of legislation), you will likely be prosecuted, which can lead to hefty fines and even jail time.

So don't leave anything to chance! Plan your work properly, carry out a full risk assessment before starting, and always use the appropriate height safety equipment to minimise the risk of a fall.

Further Reading: Height Safety Checklist

The key piece of legislation for people who work at potentially dangerous heights in Great Britain is The Work at Height Regulations 2005. As stated on the HSE website, this legislation was put in place "to prevent death and injury caused by a fall from height". The regulations state that work at height must be:

• Properly planned
• Appropriately supervised
• Carried out in a safe manner by competent personnel only

Interestingly, the 2005 regulations do not specify any particular equipment that must be used when working at height - they simply state the need for "sufficent work equipment" and remind employers that, when selecting appropriate height safety equipment for any given task, they must take account of working conditions, fall distance, the duration of the job, and several other factors.

In a nutshell: the law doesn't state that you HAVE to use a safety harness or a fall arrest block, but you are required to have some kind of fall prevention system in place, and the aforementioned items are among the most commonly-used solutions. In the end, it is up to you to decide what kind of equipment is most appropriate for the task at hand.

What will happen if I don't use any height safety equipment?

If one of your employees suffers an accident whilst working at height, you may investigated by the Health and Safety Executive. If they decide that you neglected to provide the right safety equipment or otherwise failed to fulfil your duties as an employer (as prescribed by the 2005 regulations and several other pieces of legislation), you will likely be prosecuted, which can lead to hefty fines and even jail time.

So don't leave anything to chance! Plan your work properly, carry out a full risk assessment before starting, and always use the appropriate height safety equipment to minimise the risk of a fall.

Further Reading: Height Safety Checklist

When presented with a heavy load, you may occasionally be tempted to just lift it on your own, rather than calling for help or using the proper lifting equipment. You're pretty strong, and after all, you're only carrying it a short distance - what could go wrong?

Well...a lot of things, actually. Heavy lifting is serious business, and you can really hurt yourself if you don't do it in the right way. Here are some of the risks you run when you lift a heavy load without the proper assistance and/or equipment:

• Of all the problems that can arise from heavy lifting, musculoskeletal disorders are perhaps the most widespread. Back injury is a particularly common complaint in people who handle heavy loads on a regular basis.
  
  
• If you're carrying a load that's too heavy for you, there's an increased chance that you will drop it, and this in turn can lead to all sorts of injuries (broken toes are an obvious one - many a heavy object has been dropped onto the feet of the person carrying it!) And, of course, accidentally dropping the load you're carrying can result in damaged goods, too.
  
  
• Attempting to carry a load that's too heavy to lift by manpower alone puts a terrible strain on your body, which can lead to painful muscle sprains and tears. You could also end up with a slipped disc or a hernia.

To steer clear of these (and other) risks, be sure to seek assistance when tackling heavy loads and use the appropriate manual handling equipment when necessary.