A general duty to ensure a safe place of work and safe means of access to and from that place of work. This Regulation sets out a general requirement which applies to all construction work. It applies equally to places of work in the ground, at ground level and at height. In essence it requires that 'reasonably practicable' steps should be taken to provide for safety and to ensure risks to health are minimised. This means that action to be taken should be proportionate to the risk involved.
Falls account for more than half of the fatal accidents in construction.
The aim of the Regulations is to prevent falls from any height, but there are specific steps to be taken for work over two metres high. Above this height, where work cannot be done safely from the ground, the first objective is to provide physical safeguards to prevent falls. Where possible, means of access and working places should be of sound construction and capable of safely supporting both people and the materials needed for the work. Guard rails and toe boards or an equivalent standard of protection should be provided at any edge from which people could fall. Sometimes it is either not possible to provide the above safeguards or the work is of such short duration or difficulty that it would not be reasonably practicable to do so.