The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has welcomed new regulations designed to improve safe working at height.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 are aimed at reducing falls from height, which remain the single biggest cause of construction workplace deaths. Falls accounted for 68 fatal accidents and nearly 4,000 major injuries at work in 2003/04.
Chris Blythe, CIOB chief executive, said: “It is the result of gross negligence that so many of our workforce have already had to suffer at the expense of bad working practices. Those in breach of this new regulation should face criminal liability.”
The regulations remove the old division between low and high falls, as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) believes employers should prevent falls from any height.
The HSE has published a question and answer brief, downloadable at www.hse.gov.uk, to communicate the requirements to industry.
