RAMS for Working at Height

Working at height remains one of the leading causes of fatal and serious injury on UK construction sites. A well-written RAMS for work at height is not a box-tick — it is a working document that demonstrates you have thought through the risks and put the right controls in place before anyone leaves the ground.

The Legal Basis

The primary legislation is the **Work at Height Regulations 2005 (WAHR 2005)**, which apply to all work where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury — including falls from ground level into a hole or pit. The duty to risk-assess stems from the **Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR), regulation 3**, which requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and others affected by their work. Your RAMS is how you record and communicate that assessment for a specific work at height task.

The WAH Hierarchy — and Why Order Matters

WAHR 2005 sets out a clear hierarchy. Inspectors and principal contractors look at this hierarchy when reviewing your RAMS:

1. **Avoid** — can the work be done from ground level? Long-reach tools, pre-assembled components, or ground-level preparation may eliminate the need to work at height entirely. 2. **Prevent falls using collective protection** — edge protection, scaffold, or a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP). These protect everyone without requiring individual action at height. 3. **Minimise the consequences using collective protection** — safety nets or airbags beneath the work area. 4. **Personal fall protection (fall arrest)** — harness and lanyard systems as the last resort, not the first.

A RAMS that goes straight to harnesses without demonstrating that collective protection was considered and ruled out will fail on inspection. Harnesses arrest a fall after it has happened; they do not prevent it. Collective measures protect workers even if they lose their footing.

Key Hazards and Controls

**Fragile surfaces** — assess before access; use crawl boards, roof ladders, or barriers to prevent approach to fragile material; never assume a roof is safe because it looks solid.

**Unstable or inadequate access equipment** — ladder work should be limited to short-duration, low-risk tasks only; class-rated scaffold and MEWPs require pre-use checks, thorough examination records, and competent operators.

**Falling objects** — toe boards, debris netting, exclusion zones, and banksmen where the public are below.

**Weather conditions** — wind speed limits for MEWPs (consult manufacturer data), procedures for suspending work in ice, snow, or lightning.

**Rescue** — this is a legal requirement, not an afterthought. WAHR 2005 regulation 4 requires a rescue plan proportionate to the risk. If someone becomes suspended in a harness, how are they recovered? Suspension trauma (harness hang syndrome) can be fatal within minutes.

Common Failings That Get a WAH RAMS Rejected

- Harness listed as the primary or only fall control, with no consideration of collective protection. - Generic, copied-and-pasted controls with no reference to the specific site, structure, or task. - No rescue plan, or a rescue plan that relies on emergency services as the first response. - Ladder risk assessment missing entirely, or using a ladder for tasks that clearly require scaffold or a MEWP. - Competency records not referenced — the RAMS should name the type of training required (e.g. PASMA, IPAF, FASET) and confirm it has been verified. - No reference to inspection regimes — scaffold requires weekly inspection and inspection after any event liable to affect stability.

What a Work at Height RAMS Must Include

- **Description of the task** — what is being done, where, at what height, and for how long. - **Access method selected and justification** — why this method was chosen over alternatives higher in the hierarchy. - **Specific hazards identified** — surface condition, overhead services, weather, proximity to others. - **Controls in hierarchy order** — collective protection first, personal fall protection only where collective measures are not reasonably practicable. - **Rescue plan** — proportionate, site-specific, not reliant solely on 999. - **Competency requirements** — training, certification, and supervision levels required for each role. - **Inspection and maintenance requirements** — for access equipment, harnesses, and anchor points. - **Named responsible persons** — who checks the equipment, who authorises commencement, who is the first-aider or rescue operative.