Height Safety Services
Horizontal and vertical lifeline systems, fall protection equipment and engineered working-at-height solutions — designed, supplied and installed for the structure you actually have. Approved centre and system installer for 3M, whose SALA and Protecta brands cover everything from a single anchor point to a full multi-user system.
Falls From Height Remain The Biggest Killer
Working at height is the single largest cause of fatal injury in construction and one of the largest across industry generally. The law does not ask you to make it safe once someone is up there — it asks you to avoid the work at height entirely where you reasonably can, and only then to protect the person doing it.
In Great Britain that duty sits in the Work at Height Regulations 2005; in the Republic of Ireland the equivalent duties sit in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. Both put collective protection ahead of personal protection, and both require the equipment to be inspected and the work properly planned.
We survey the structure, specify a system that fits it, install it, certify it and come back to re-inspect it. As an approved centre and system installer for 3M, we work with the SALA and Protecta ranges, alongside KeeSafety tubular fittings for guardrail and fall prevention.
Where We Work at Height
- Roofs — flat, pitched, fragile and plant-access routes
- Walkways and gantries — elevated access and maintenance routes
- Ladders and climbing routes — fixed ladders, masts, towers
- Vehicle and load tops — tankers, trailers, rail wagons
- Plant and machinery — access for cleaning and maintenance
- Confined and below-ground — wet wells, chambers, tanks
- Structural steel — crane runways, beams and support steel
- Low-clearance environments — where fall distance is restricted
Certified fall protection equipment for working at height — harnesses, lanyards and energy absorbers, self-retracting lifelines, helmets and anchorage devices, supplied from the 3M SALA and Protecta ranges.
Learn moreDesign, installation and certification of permanent and temporary lifeline systems — horizontal and vertical wire and track systems for roofs, walkways, masts, towers and fixed ladder climbs.
Learn moreEngineered solutions for structures nothing off the shelf will fit — designed around your access route, user numbers and available fall clearance, from concept through installation to ongoing inspection.
Learn moreSystems We Design & Install
The right system depends on three things: how the person needs to move, how far they could fall before the system takes the load, and how many people use it at once. These are the four families we work in.
Horizontal Lifelines
Continuous protection along a route — a roof edge, a walkway, a gantry, the top of a tanker. The user clips on once and stays attached past intermediate brackets without disconnecting.
Wire suits long spans and is more economical over distance. Track gives lower deflection and a shorter fall distance, which matters where clearance below is limited.
Vertical Lifelines
Fall arrest for fixed ladders, masts, towers, silos and chimney climbs. A travelling arrester runs on a cable or rail as the user climbs, locking on if they fall.
Retro-fitted to existing ladders or supplied as part of a new climb. Where the ladder itself is non-compliant, we will say so rather than fit a system to a structure that should be replaced.
Guardrail & Fall Prevention
Physical barriers that stop a fall happening at all — free-standing and fixed guardrail, walkways, step-overs and access platforms, built from KeeSafety tubular fittings.
Collective protection sits above personal protection in law, so wherever guardrail is reasonably practicable it is the correct answer — and it needs no training, no harness and no rescue plan.
Anchors, Davits & Rescue
Single-point and multi-point anchors, davit arms and tripods for confined space entry, and the winches and retrieval equipment needed to get someone back out.
A fall arrest system without a rescue plan is only half a system. Suspension trauma makes prompt recovery critical, so we specify retrieval alongside arrest rather than after it.
Hierarchy of Control
Height safety is not a shopping list — it is a sequence. You are expected to work down it in order, and to be able to show why each step was not reasonably practicable before moving to the next. Harnesses come last, not first.
Avoid
Do not work at height at all where it is reasonably practicable not to. The safest fall is the one that cannot happen.
- Bring the task to ground level
- Design out the access requirement
- Use extending tools from below
- Relocate the plant being maintained
Prevent the Fall
Where the work must happen at height, stop the fall occurring. Collective measures protect everyone present without depending on the individual.
- Guardrail and edge protection
- Existing safe places of work
- Access platforms and walkways
- Work restraint — cannot reach the edge
Minimise the Consequences
Where a fall remains possible, reduce how far the person falls and how badly it hurts — and plan how to get them down.
- Nets and airbags before personal kit
- Fall arrest lifelines and lanyards
- Adequate clearance below the user
- A written, practised rescue plan
Inspection & Recertification
Fall protection is the only safety equipment most people own that they hope never to test. That is exactly why it has to be examined on a schedule rather than when someone remembers — and why the record matters as much as the check.
Pre-Use Check
Every UseCarried out by the user, every time, before clipping on. Visual and tactile check of webbing, stitching, connectors and the retraction and locking action of any self-retracting device. Anything doubtful goes out of service immediately, not at the end of the shift.
Interim Inspection
Risk BasedWhere use is heavy or the environment aggressive — grit, chemicals, UV, salt, high temperature or sharp edges — a formal interim inspection is scheduled between periodic examinations. The interval comes from the risk assessment, not from a calendar default.
Periodic Examination
At Least 12 MonthsA detailed examination by a competent person, recorded against the individual item. EN 365 sets at least 12-monthly as the general position for fall protection PPE, but the manufacturer’s instructions govern and may require it more often. Installed lifeline systems are recertified on the same principle.
Equipment That Lifts People
6 Months — LOLERWhere equipment is used to raise or lower a person — a rescue winch, a davit and man-riding winch for confined space entry — it is lifting equipment under LOLER and requires thorough examination at least every six months. This catches people out on confined space kit.
Approved, Accredited, Audited
Sectors We Protect
A roof edge is a roof edge anywhere. What changes is the permit regime, the shutdown window, the contamination risk and who is allowed on the structure — which is what the survey is for.
Height Safety FAQs
How often does fall protection equipment need inspecting?
Three layers. The user carries out a pre-use check every time. A competent person carries out a periodic examination at least every 12 months under EN 365 — though the manufacturer’s instructions govern and may require it more often. Where use is heavy or the environment aggressive, interim inspections are scheduled in between, at a frequency set by risk assessment.
Separately, any equipment used to raise or lower a person — a rescue winch or a davit and man-riding winch — is lifting equipment under LOLER and needs thorough examination at least every six months.
Should I fit a lifeline or a guardrail?
Guardrail, wherever it is reasonably practicable. Collective protection sits above personal protection in the hierarchy of control because it protects everyone on the structure without depending on the individual doing anything — no harness, no training, no rescue plan, nothing to inspect on a person.
A lifeline is the right answer when guardrail cannot be installed, when the access is occasional, or when the structure will not take it. It is common for our survey to come back recommending guardrail and a walkway when a lifeline system was what was originally asked for.
What is the difference between work restraint and fall arrest?
Work restraint stops the user physically reaching the point they could fall from — the lanyard is short enough that the edge is out of range. Nobody falls, so there are no arrest forces and no rescue problem.
Fall arrest allows the fall to happen and then stops it, which means arrest forces on the body, a required clearance distance below the user, and a rescue plan for getting them down. Restraint is preferable wherever the task allows it.
Do I need a rescue plan as well as a system?
Yes, and it is the most commonly missed part. A person suspended in a harness after a fall cannot usually self-rescue, and suspension trauma makes prompt recovery critical — calling the emergency services is not a rescue plan on its own.
We specify retrieval equipment alongside the arrest system rather than after it, and the plan should be written down and practised by the people who would have to carry it out.
Are you approved to install manufacturer systems?
Yes. We are an approved centre and system installer for 3M, which trades in fall protection under the SALA and Protecta brands, and covers both horizontal and vertical wire and track systems. We also supply KeeSafety tubular fittings for guardrail and fall prevention.
Manufacturer approval matters more here than in most trades: an engineered lifeline is only certified if it is installed to the system designer’s specification, by an installer the manufacturer recognises.
Can you work on a structure you did not install?
Yes — inspection, recertification and extension of existing systems is routine. Where a system was installed by someone else we will assess whether it can be recertified as it stands, and be straightforward if it cannot.
The usual findings are anchors fixed to substrate that will not take the load, systems extended beyond their design user count, and no surviving documentation for the original installation.
What happens after a system has arrested a fall?
The equipment comes out of service immediately and does not go back until a competent person has assessed it. Energy absorbers deploy once, harness webbing takes loads it is not designed to take twice, and the anchor and structure both need checking for what the arrest put through them.
Get the Height Safety Survey Done Properly
Tell us the structure, the task and how often someone has to go up there. We will work the hierarchy of control from the top and specify the simplest thing that actually solves it — then install it, certify it and keep it inspected.