This policy procedure sets out how work at height is identified, avoided where possible and planned, and what the company and employees must do when it cannot be avoided.

Effective Policy Templates

This policy template is supplied in fully editable MS Word format and can be easily customised and edited. The document uses pre-defined style formatting throughout, with all text in Calibri font for improved readability.
The following document labelling is included in the footer:

• Policy number and title
• Information-classification
• Version
• Page number / total pages

alphaZ documents - beautifully designed, tried and tested policy templates. No junk, jargon or unnecessary content. Simple and usable policy templates developed over 25 years through practical use in the real world.

Further Reading

Further guidance on working at height:

• Working at Height
• Management and Use of Ladders
• Risk Assessment
• Health and Safety knowledge base

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Working Safely at Height Policy Procedure Template

The Working Safely at Height Policy Procedure is a Word template that sets out how a business manages the risk of falls from height. It covers how to identify work at height, avoiding it where possible, preventing falls with the right equipment, minimising the distance and consequences of a fall, the use of ladders, training and competence, and the responsibilities of employees.

Title, File Location, Issue No, Issue Date, Controlled By and Approved By fields and an Amendment Record support document control, and the footer carries a Business Use information classification. It applies to all personnel involved in activities within its scope.

What the Policy Covers

• Amendment record, summary, scope and applicability - the purpose of the policy, its scope across all company activities and locations, who it applies to and how guidance sections are marked
• Overview and company duty - the company duty under health and safety law to manage the risks of work at height and prevent injury from a fall
• Identifying work at height - how to decide whether a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury, with examples such as ladders, fragile surfaces and openings
• Company obligations - avoiding work at height, equipment to prevent falls, measures to minimise a fall, conditions for ladder use, training and planned risk assessment
• Employee responsibilities - doing as much work as possible from the ground, reporting unsafe practices, checking weather and the place of work, preventing falling objects and planning rescue

Built for Planned Work at Height

• Avoid, prevent and minimise applied to every risk assessment that includes work at height
• Ladders limited to low risk, short duration tasks, with the right ladder, training and a shared risk assessment
• Only trained, competent workers allowed to carry out any activity at height
• Exclusion zones and safe storage so that falling or disturbed materials cannot injure anyone
• Emergencies and rescue planned for, with an agreed procedure for evacuation

Who Needs a Working Safely at Height Policy Procedure?

Any business whose people work on ladders, roofs, platforms or anywhere they could fall a distance liable to cause injury. It is written for those who plan work at height and for the employees who carry it out.

Using the Policy

Edit the examples, the access equipment named and the ladder arrangements to match the work at height your business carries out, and decide how competence is confirmed. Name the person in the Controlled By field, give it top level approval and brief employees before they work at height.

Related Documents

The GG-7-07 Working Safely at Height Guidance and TT-7-07 Working Safely at Height Training Talk can be used to brief employees on working safely at height.

What Counts as Work at Height

The procedure gives a simple test for working at height: whether a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury if no precautions were in place. Examples include working on a ladder or flat roof, and places where someone could fall through a fragile surface or into an opening or hole.