Any enclosed (or largely enclosed) place where there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of fire, explosion, loss of consciousness, asphyxiation or drowning counts as a 'confined space' for health and safety purposes. Note that a space doesn't necessarily have to be small, difficult to enter or completely enclosed to count as 'confined'.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uses the above definition when explaining which workplaces are covered by confined space safety rules.

'Falls from a height' are falls from one level to a lower level. This could mean falling from a roof, ladder, elevated work platform or unprotected ledge. Falling through an opening in the floor also counts as a fall from a height.

Roof work is a high-risk activity – in fact, almost 1 in 5 deaths in construction work involve roof work, with many of those deaths being everyday people trying to repair and clean their roof themselves. Many of these accidents could have been avoided if suitable equipment was used and those doing the work were given adequate training and supervision.

So, do you need a harness to work on a roof? Yes, the risk of falls and serious injury when working on a roof can be controlled by wearing a roofer’s harness. Keep reading this blog to find out more.

Each time before using a safety harness, it is essential that you carry out a pre-use inspection to check for any signs of damage. In this blog, we will go through five types of damage you should look out for when carrying out your pre-use checks. If you spot any of the harness issues, you should take the safety harness use out of use immediately and find a suitable replacement.

An inclined plane is a work environment that is slanted at an angle, like a sloping roof. These environments bring with them a unique set of challenges, as while it may be possible to stand on inclined planes, they are uneven and therefore present a higher risk of a fall.

Read on to find out how to stay safe while working on an inclined plane (and what equipment you’ll need to do so).