Is working at height training a legal requirement?

There is no specific legal duty called 'working at height training'. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require competence. Training is the usual way to achieve and evidence it, but the law names the outcome, not the course.

How often should working at height training be refreshed?

There is no fixed statutory interval. Refresher is needed whenever the equipment or task changes, whenever the risk assessment changes, after an incident or near-miss, or when skills are visibly out of date. Three years is a common convention for awareness content, while practical certifications such as IPAF (five years) and IRATA (three years) set their own intervals.

Is an online awareness course enough for someone using a MEWP or scaffold?

No. Awareness courses cover the law, the hazards and the principles. Equipment-specific practical competence requires hands-on training with recognised sector schemes — IPAF for MEWPs, CISRS for scaffolding, IRATA for rope access. An online course does not replace these.

Does the two-metre rule for working at height still apply?

No. The old two-metre rule was scrapped when the Work at Height Regulations 2005 came in. The duties apply to any work where a person could be injured by falling, regardless of height — including working below ground level in trenches or pits.

Who needs working at height training? UK law explained

Q: Who needs working at height training?

Anyone who works at height, anyone who plans work at height, and anyone who supervises it. Regulation 5 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 requires that each of those people is competent for what they do. There is no fixed hours or grade set by law — the training must match the task and the equipment.

Anyone who works at height, anyone who plans it, and anyone who supervises it needs training that makes them competent for what they do. That is the standard set by Regulation 5 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. There is no legal duty called “working at height training” as such — the law names an outcome, competence, and leaves the route to it to the employer.

What matters in an inspection or after an incident is not whether a certificate exists, but whether the person could actually plan, do or supervise the task safely. A cheap certificate that leaves someone unable to do that is worse than useless — it creates a paper defence that will not stand up.

What “work at height” actually means

Under Regulation 2, work at height is any work in a place where a person could be injured by falling — including working at or below ground level (a trench, a manhole, a pit). It is not limited to a specific height in metres. The old two-metre rule does not exist in law.

See Work at Height Regulations 2005 explained for the full definition and duty holders.

The three tiers of people who need training

Regulation 5 splits the duty into three roles. Anyone in any of them must be competent — and for most people that means training.

1. Planners

Whoever decides how a task at height will be done — chooses the equipment, writes the method statement, sets the rescue plan. They need training that covers:

The hierarchy of control (see hierarchy of control for work at height)
Selection of the right equipment for the task, place and duration
Fall arrest vs fall restraint vs work restraint — and when each applies
Rescue planning — because a person suspended in a harness is on a clock

2. Supervisors

Anyone who oversees others working at height. They need enough training to spot when something is going wrong before it fails: bad access, bad anchor points, weather, fatigue, unfamiliar equipment.

3. Workers

Anyone who actually goes up. The training must match the equipment and the task. A ladder-safety briefing does not cover a mobile tower. A tower induction does not cover a scaffold. A scaffold induction does not cover a MEWP.

Roles that almost always need formal training

Construction and maintenance workers — anyone using ladders, towers, MEWPs, roof edge protection or fall arrest
Roofers — including on flat roofs, which HSE data shows are the biggest killer
Window cleaners using ladders, cradles or rope access
Tree surgeons and arborists — chainsaw at height needs specific NPTC/City & Guilds practical competence, not an online awareness course
Warehouse operators using order pickers, high-level MHE, mezzanine floors
Signage installers, aerial fitters, telecoms engineers
Retail staff using stepladders for stock — often skipped, often the cause of injury
Facilities staff changing lamps, checking flat roofs, clearing gutters
Anyone using a stepladder in an office — the duty applies, even if the fall is short

What the training must cover

HSE does not prescribe a syllabus. But a suitable and sufficient course covers:

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 — what the law actually requires
Hierarchy of control — avoid, then prevent, then minimise
Recognising the hazards (fragile surfaces, weather, edges, openings, overhead lines)
Selection and pre-use inspection of the specific equipment being used
Personal fall protection — the difference between fall arrest and restraint
Rescue plan — who does what, in how long
What to report, what to stop, and who has authority to stop

Awareness training versus practical competence

Online awareness courses — including our Working at Height Awareness — build the knowledge base: the law, the hazards, the principles, the mindset. They are appropriate for supervisors, planners, office and facilities staff, and as a foundation for anyone about to do practical training.

They are not a substitute for hands-on practical training on the specific equipment. A scaffolder needs CISRS. A MEWP operator needs IPAF. A rope access technician needs IRATA. A chainsaw-at-height operator needs the relevant NPTC unit. No £9 online course replaces any of those.

How often to refresh

The law does not set a fixed interval. Refresher is required whenever:

The equipment or the task changes
Anything in the risk assessment changes
An incident, near-miss or reported symptom points to a gap
Skills are visibly rusty — long gaps without doing the task

Three years is a common convention for awareness content; equipment-specific practical certifications set their own intervals (IPAF five years, IRATA three).

How to evidence competence

An inspector will ask for four things:

A written training record — who, what, when, by whom, valid until when
The risk assessment that shows why this training was chosen for this work
The certification for equipment-specific competence where practical work is involved
Evidence of ongoing supervision — that competence is being maintained, not just claimed on day one

Missing any of those and the training record on its own will not defend you.

Sector-specific rules that go beyond WAHR

Construction — CDM 2015 duties on principal contractors and designers, plus TG20 for scaffolds
Tree work — HSE AFAG (Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group) guidance, plus specific chainsaw units
Wind, telecoms, rope access — sector schemes (GWO, IRATA, TESG) that go well beyond WAHR

Working at Height Awareness

Our Working at Height Awareness course covers the Work at Height Regulations 2005, hierarchy of control, selection of the right equipment, fall protection principles and rescue planning. It is an awareness-level course suitable for supervisors, planners and workers whose role is to understand the rules and support safe systems of work.

£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100 % online, verifiable e-certificate on completion. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18.

Please note: this is a CPD-accredited awareness course and general information, not legal advice. It is not an Ofqual-regulated qualification and does not replace practical, equipment-specific training. Where practical competence is required — scaffolding, MEWP operation, rope access, tree work — sector schemes such as CISRS, IPAF, IRATA and NPTC apply and are not covered by an online awareness course.

Who needs working at height training?