Working at Height for UK Electricians : Procedure and Compliance

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 define "work at height" as work in any place, including a place at or below ground level, where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. Getting to and from that place (access and egress) is included too. There is no minimum height in the Regulations. A short fall onto a hard floor or onto something sharp can still cause serious injury.

For electricians, that covers a lot of everyday work: changing a ceiling rose from a stepladder, installing a high-bay LED on a podium step, running containment along a cable tray from a tower, accessing a loft for cable routing, working on a flat roof for an aerial or lightning protection conductor, terminating string cables on a rooftop solar PV array, or opening a top-mounted HV switchgear panel in a substation.

Regulation 6 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 sets three steps, in order, and HSE INDG401 explains how to apply them before you choose equipment:

1. AVOID: can the work be done from the ground? Lower the luminaire on a winch, use tools on telescopic poles, or pre-fabricate a containment run at bench height before lifting it into place.
2. PREVENT: if work at height cannot be avoided, prevent a fall. Use an existing place of work that is already safe, such as a platform with guard rails, or equipment that prevents falls, such as a tower with guard rails and toe boards, a scissor lift or a scaffold. Collective protection comes first (regulation 7). Where it is not reasonably practicable, personal protection that prevents a fall, such as work restraint, comes next.
3. MINIMISE: where the risk of a fall remains, minimise the distance and consequences of a fall. Collective measures such as nets and airbags come first; personal fall arrest (a harness and energy-absorbing lanyard to a suitable anchor) comes last, and always with a rescue plan.

If you write a RAMS (see the Elec-Mate RAMS Generator and the Electrical RAMS template), it is a good place to record which step of the hierarchy you reached and why the steps above it were not reasonably practicable.

The right access equipment depends on duration, height, the load you need to lift, the floor surface, and whether you are working live or near live equipment. A practical electrician-focused summary:

The same hierarchy applies across every job, but each scenario has its own typical answer. A few worked examples:

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require that anyone carrying out work at height is competent or, if being trained, is supervised by a competent person (regulation 5). The Regulations name no card or scheme. Industry schemes are one way to help show competence, and principal contractors often make a card a site rule:

The law requires a risk assessment, proper planning of work at height (regulation 4) and, on construction work, a construction phase plan and information for workers under CDM 2015. No regulation requires a document called RAMS, but a written method statement is the usual way of meeting those duties and many clients and principal contractors ask for one. The planning should be proportionate to the risk. A typical paper trail is:

Electricians often work alone at height on short jobs. Pair this guide with the lone working procedure for electricians. The duty to plan for emergencies and rescue still applies when you are on your own, so make sure someone knows where you are and when to expect you back.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 are enforced by HSE and local authority inspectors. If something goes wrong, there are reporting duties too: