Working at Height Consultancy
Good work at height planning starts before anyone clips on. We provide working at height consultancy to help duty-holders choose the right access method, define practical controls, and document a safe system that can be delivered on site. From short reviews for specific tasks to wider site audits and programme planning, we focus on clarity: hazards understood, responsibilities defined, rescue considered, and a work method that stands up to scrutiny.
Clear advice, defensible systems, practical delivery.
Practical working-at-height advice that translates into safer work on the ground. We assess tasks and access constraints, review equipment and anchor arrangements, and help you plan methods and rescue considerations that fit your site. You get clear actions and sensible controls your teams can follow — not generic documents that don’t match reality.
The Work at Height approach starts with the hierarchy: avoid the work at height where possible, otherwise prevent falls, and only then move to measures that mitigate the consequences. Our consultancy helps you apply that hierarchy to real tasks, balancing safety, programme, access constraints and cost. Where rope access is being considered, it should be selected for the right reasons and set up properly — HSE recognises rope access within the hierarchy as a form of personal fall protection used to minimise distance and consequences of a fall.
We support you by reviewing the task, the structure, and the interface risks (SIMOPS, dropped objects, exclusion zones, public/traffic interfaces, fragile surfaces and changeable conditions). We then translate that into a workable plan: access strategy, supervision requirements, equipment selection, and a method statement that communicates what’s required without ambiguity. When rope access is part of the solution, we align planning to IRATA guidance and the principles of the IRATA ICOP — including credible rescue and evacuation planning that is built in from the start.
Typical deliverables
- Site/task reviews and access option recommendations (hierarchy-led)
- Risk assessment and method statement support, including task sequencing and interfaces
- Rope access workpacks: scope, crew structure, supervision level, tool control and exclusion zones
- Rescue and evacuation planning aligned to IRATA ICOP considerations
- Review of existing access/anchor arrangements (with recommendations and limits of use)
- Audit-style reviews of current work at height arrangements and documentation
- Practical close-out notes and actions your team can implement immediately
Suitable for
- Industrial sites, utilities, ports and large commercial assets
- Roof work, plant rooms, gantries, steelwork, towers and high-level façades
- Shutdown/maintenance windows where access method drives programme
- Sites with repeated WAH tasks needing consistency across contractors
- High-consequence areas where exclusion zones and dropped-object control are critical
Planning, compliance & safety
Consultancy is delivered around duty-holder requirements: risk assessment, planning and supervision, competent personnel, and a work method that follows the work at height hierarchy. Where rope access is proposed, we ensure rescue is treated as a working system rather than an assumption, reflecting IRATA’s focus on strict work guidelines and the ICOP approach to planning. Outputs are written to be usable on site — clear responsibilities, clear controls, and clear stop-work triggers if conditions change.
Arrange a working at height review
If you have a work-at-height task coming up (or repeat works that need a more consistent system), we can review the scope and constraints, recommend the most suitable access approach, and produce documentation that supports safe delivery and audit-ready records.