Work at height prosecutions - the figures

Dr Dave Merchant of http://www.uvsar.com/ who, when he's not scaling new heights himself, advises other people on how to do it safely, has been collating the figures for prosecutions last year under the Work at Height Regulations and sent me a breakdown of the parts of the Regulations the HSE has cited in the cases it brought.

The most common charge (in 46 cases) was a failure to meet Regulation 6, which covers the need for risk assessment, avoiding work at height if it can be carried out safely in another wayand using suitable control measures to stop fall injuries where the work is unavoidable. As a catch-all for what usually goes wrong, it makes sense this is the most common charge

Regulation 4 is next with 28 charges. This covers failure to organise and plan WAH. As Dave puts it, "People who haven't made any effort to even read the regs get done under 4.1 ". Most of them come down to accidents using portable ladders.

Interesting to see that only 14 cases involved a charge of failing to take precaustion where employees were working around fragine surfaces at height (Reg 9). I'd swear that we reported on more cases of employees who fell through rooflights and asbestos roof panels last year.

For those of you who know the Regs well, i'm including Dave's table below. He's written us some very very good articles on different aspects of work at height, including one on the dangers of caged ladders (a subject the HSE seems to have become quite shy about) which i really recommend.


Reg /Charges/ Title
1 /N/A /Citation and commencement
2 /N/A /Interpretation
3 /N/A /Application
4 /28 /Organisation and planning
5/ 2 /Competence
6 /45/ Avoidance of risks from work at height
7 /3 /Selection of work equipment for work at height
8 /12 /Requirements for particular work equipment
9 /14 /Fragile surfaces
10/ 6 /Falling objects
11 /0 /Danger areas
12 /5/ Inspection of work equipment
13 /0 /Inspection of places of work at height
14 /0 /Duties of persons at work - Special provision in relation to
caving and climbing
15 /N/A / Exemption by the Health and Safety Executive
16 /N/A / Exemption for the armed forces
17 / N/A /Amendment of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment
Regulations 1998
18 /N/A /Repeal of section 24 of the Factories Act 1961
19 /N/A / Revocation of instruments