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Per task

Work at height,
before anyone
goes up.

A free work at height checklist: 18 checks in plain English, each with the regulation behind it. Falls remain the single biggest killer in UK construction.

Published · Last reviewed

Start the checklist → All checklists
Start here

What a work at height
check has to cover.

Falls from height are consistently the largest single cause of workplace fatality in Great Britain, and construction carries most of them. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 do not ask whether you have a harness. They ask, in order, whether the work can be avoided, then prevented, then mitigated, and they are enforced in that order.

The hierarchy, the two-metre myth, and what an inspector asks first+
The hierarchy is the law
Reg 6 sets a sequence you cannot skip: avoid work at height where reasonably practicable; where you cannot, use work equipment to prevent a fall; where you still cannot, mitigate the distance and consequences. A harness is the bottom of that list, not the answer to it.
There is no two-metre rule
A common and dangerous myth. The Regulations apply to any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury, including below ground level. The two-metre figure appears only in the inspection requirement for working platforms in Schedule 7.
Collective before personal
Guard rails, nets and airbags protect everyone in the area without needing to be worn, fitted or clipped correctly. Personal fall protection depends on one person getting it right every time. Reg 6(5) prefers the former, and so does every inspector.
The rescue plan
A harness without a rescue plan is a suspension trauma plan. Suspension in a harness can become life-threatening in minutes, and "call 999" is not a rescue plan where the ambulance cannot reach the casualty.
What this checklist covers
18 checks across three sections: 5 on the decision to work at height at all, 8 on equipment and controls, 5 on the people and the plan. Each entry names the regulation it comes from.
Avoid and plan

Can it be avoided?

The first five questions, in the order Regulation 6 asks them. Most of the argument is settled here.

Equipment and controls

The equipment and the controls.

Collective before personal, every time. Eight checks on what is actually holding somebody up.

People and rescue

The people and the plan.

Who is doing it, who is watching, and what happens when it goes wrong.

A starting point for your own review, not legal advice. Always check against the current regulations and HSE guidance. Put your own company in the field above and the PDF carries your name instead of ours. Ticks, notes and site details stay in your browser. Nothing is sent to us.

Download

Or use it as a printable template.

Download the blank work at height checklist as a PDF, or work through the list above on screen and save that instead, dated and carrying the site, the person who prepared it and the score out of 18. Nothing is gated: no email address to hand over, no account to create, no trial to start.

Download the blank template (PDF) PDF · 18 checks · 70 KB · free, no sign-up
A blank template
The PDF above carries all 18 checks, each with the regulation it comes from and a ruled line for the evidence, the owner and the date. Print it and fill it in on site.
Or a completed record
Work through it on screen first and Save as PDF produces a dated record of what was in place and what was not, with your evidence notes typed against each check.
Your ticks stay in your browser
Ticks, notes and site details are held on this device only. Nothing is sent to us, so you can close the tab and pick it up tomorrow on the same machine.
Your name on it, not ours
Put your company in the field above and the downloaded PDF carries your letterhead instead of Unibuild's. It is free: a sheet you hand to a client should be able to have your name on it.

Worth knowing. A checklist filled in once, the week of an audit, is a snapshot. The evidence behind it is either generated as the work runs or reconstructed under pressure, and that is the difference between a template and a record. It is also what the health and safety module is for.

By duty holder

The same checks,
read by role.

These are the same checks above, grouped by whoever normally answers for them.

The person planning the work

The whole avoid-and-plan section. Regulation 6 is a sequence, and skipping to equipment selection is the most common enforcement finding in this area.

Supervisor on the day

Equipment checks, the exclusion zone and the brief. You are the person who has to say stop when the wind gets up or the ladder is the only thing to hand.

Scaffold inspector

Items 3 and 8 of the equipment section. Seven days is a maximum interval, not a target, and an inspection after an alteration is not optional.

MEWP operator

Item 5 of the equipment section plus the harness check. A short lanyard in a boom lift is what stops a catapult becoming a fatality.

Everyone working at height

Pre-use checks, three points of contact, nothing left where it can fall, and the authority to refuse equipment that is not right.

Principal contractor

That collective protection was actually considered before harnesses were issued. That decision is the one the investigation will look at.

After the checklist

You shouldn't need
this checklist.

On the platform this is a RAMS acceptance and an inspection record against the job, so the pre-use checks and the seven-day intervals leave evidence rather than memory.

Questions

What people ask before
they use the checklist.

The questions that come up most often around a work at height checklist, answered against the regulations rather than around them.

Is there a minimum height for the Work at Height Regulations?+
No. This is the most persistent myth in UK construction. The Regulations apply to any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury, including at or below ground level, such as into an excavation or an unguarded opening. The two-metre figure people remember comes from Schedule 7, which sets when a working platform must be inspected, not when the Regulations bite.
What is the hierarchy for work at height?+
Avoid, prevent, mitigate, in that order and set out in Regulation 6. Avoid working at height where it is reasonably practicable to do the work another way. Where you cannot, use work equipment or other measures to prevent a fall. Where the risk remains, use equipment to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall. Collective protection comes before personal protection at each step.
How often does a scaffold need to be inspected?+
Before it is first used, after any event liable to affect its strength or stability, and at intervals not exceeding seven days while it remains in use. The inspection must be carried out by a competent person and a report made before the end of the working period, kept on site until the work is complete.
Do we need a rescue plan if everyone is wearing a harness?+
Yes, and it is a legal requirement rather than a nicety. Regulation 4 requires planning to include emergencies and rescue. Suspension in a harness can become life-threatening within minutes, so a plan that relies on calling an ambulance is not a plan where the ambulance cannot reach or reach in time. The equipment and the trained people have to be on site.
Are ladders banned on construction sites?+
No, and they never were. A ladder is legitimate work equipment for short-duration, low-risk work where a risk assessment shows that more substantial equipment is not justified. What is not legitimate is reaching for one because it is what is on the van, or using one for work that needs both hands, heavy tools or a long period at height.
Who is competent to work at height?+
Somebody with the training, knowledge and experience for the specific equipment and task, or somebody working under the supervision of a person who has it. Competence is per equipment: a card for one tower system is not competence in a different one, and erecting a mobile tower requires training in that tower.
Is this checklist free, and do I have to sign up?+
It is free and there is nothing to sign up for. No email address, no account, no trial. Tick it above, add evidence notes if you want them, and download the result as a PDF. Ticks, notes and site details are held in your own browser and nothing is sent to us.
Can I put my own company name on the PDF?+
Yes. There is a company field beside the site and the person completing it, and whatever you put there becomes the letterhead on the downloaded PDF instead of ours. It is a free checklist: a sheet you hand to a client should be able to carry your name.
Does Unibuild do this for me?+
No supplier makes a business compliant, and be wary of one that says its software does. What the platform does is hold the record: the check, the person, the date, the photograph and the action that followed, retrievable by site and by date with an audit trail behind it. The duty stays with the duty holder. More on the health and safety module.
Next step

Before the next
lift goes up.

Run this over the work at height happening on your site tomorrow, starting with whether it has to happen at all.

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