No Falls Week runs from 19 to 23 May 2026, and the statistics that prompted it haven't improved enough. Falls from height remain the single biggest cause of fatal injuries in UK construction, accounting for 53% of all construction fatalities in the most recent HSE annual statistics. That's not a historical problem — it's happening on sites right now, on projects of every size, to workers with years of experience.
No Falls Week is a useful prompt to review your working at height arrangements. But the review shouldn't stop when the week ends.
What the law requires
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 place clear duties on employers, the self-employed, and anyone who controls work at height. The core requirements are:
- Avoid work at height where reasonably practicable — if the task can be done from ground level, it should be
- Prevent falls where work at height cannot be avoided — using collective protection (scaffolding, edge protection, safety nets) before personal protection (harnesses)
- Minimise the consequences of a fall — where fall prevention is not reasonably practicable, fall arrest systems must be in place
Every working at height activity must be covered by a suitable and sufficient risk assessment. This is not optional, and it is not discharged by a generic risk assessment that lists "working at height" as a hazard without specifying the actual task, the equipment to be used, or the controls in place.
The five things most sites get wrong
1. Generic risk assessments that don't reflect the actual task
The most common failure is a risk assessment that was written for a different job, on a different site, by someone who has never visited the current project. A risk assessment for working at height on a flat roof is not suitable for working at height on a pitched roof. A risk assessment for scaffold erection is not suitable for MEWP operations. Each task, each location, each set of conditions requires its own assessment.
2. No rescue plan
Where operatives are working in harnesses, a rescue plan is legally required. If a worker falls and is suspended in a harness, suspension trauma can cause serious injury or death within minutes. Yet the majority of sites with harness requirements have no documented rescue plan and no trained rescue personnel on site.
3. Equipment not inspected before use
Ladders, scaffolding, MEWPs, and harnesses must all be inspected before use and at regular intervals. Pre-use checks must be documented. Equipment that fails inspection must be taken out of service immediately — not tagged and left in the hope that someone will deal with it later.
4. Competence not verified
Operatives working at height must be competent for the specific task and equipment involved. IPAF for MEWPs, PASMA for mobile tower scaffolds, and CISRS for scaffolding are the recognised competence schemes. Sending an operative up a MEWP because they've "done it before" is not sufficient.
5. Weather conditions not considered
Wind, rain, ice, and reduced visibility all affect the risk profile of working at height. Risk assessments must include weather-related triggers for suspending work — and those triggers must actually be applied on site, not ignored when there's programme pressure.
What to check this No Falls Week
Use No Falls Week as the prompt to carry out a structured review of your working at height arrangements. Check the following for every working at height activity currently on site:
- Is there a current, site-specific risk assessment for this task?
- Has the risk assessment been reviewed since site conditions changed?
- Is collective protection (edge protection, safety nets, barriers) in place where required?
- Where harnesses are used, is there a documented rescue plan?
- Have all operatives received task-specific briefings?
- Has all equipment been inspected and are inspection records up to date?
- Are competence certificates on file for all operatives using specialist equipment?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, that's not a minor admin gap — it's a legal non-compliance and a serious risk to your workforce.
Get your documentation right
SafetyPod's Working at Height Risk Assessment template covers all the required elements — task description, equipment to be used, persons at risk, existing controls, residual risk rating, and review arrangements — in a format that works for real construction tasks, not just theoretical scenarios.
Download the Working at Height Risk Assessment template and make sure every working at height activity on your site is properly assessed before No Falls Week ends.