In 2005, new regulations came into force that impacted the way that all work at height, including window cleaning would be carried out.

These regulations became law in the UK as a result of The European Work at Height Directive, which aims to standardize work at height regulation throughout the European community.

Why Were New Regulations Needed?
Working at height is, of course, inherently dangerous. The potential for serious and even fatal injury from working at height is all too well illustrated by the accident statistics compiled by The HSE.

Clearly, more needed to be done to prevent death and serious injury among those trades that work at height. It was found, for example, that approximatley two-thirds of all accidents while working at height involved ladders.

How Do They Affect Window Cleaners?
Even before the regulations were published, the consultation document made it clear that they would have a profound impact on window cleaners. There are few other trades where work at height, in particular the use of ladders, plays such an integral part of the working process.

Put simply, the regulations say that if a task can reasonably be done without the need to work at height, then it must be done that way.

They also require that when ladders are used (and a risk assessment must show that work at height was unavoidable) then those ladders must be "secured".

The Regulations and Water-Fed Pole Systems
An obvious question that arises is how does the advent of water-fed pole systems affect window cleaners in light of the new regulations? The answer is somewhat complex.

It is now illegal to work at height where a risk assessment would show that it is reasonably practical to complete the task from the safety of the ground.

Its a simple fact that the vast majority of window cleaning work can now be done without the need to work at height by using a water-fed pole system. As using a system is almost always faster (and therefore more efficient) than using ladders, and can clean to greater heights than is possible from ladders, it would be very hard to argue that using a water-fed pole was not "reasonably practical" in the majority of cases.

This takes on a particularly serious dimension for employers who could be prosecuted under the new regulations if their worker has an accident while using ladders for a cleaning task that could have been done with water-fed pole.

The HSE has promised more guidance on what it would consider to be "reasonably practcable" in the context of the regulations, but this has not yet been produced.

All Ladders Must Be "Secured" - What Does That Mean?
Schedule 6 of the regulations require that when ladders are used, they must be "secured", and then goes on to describe specifically how that is to be done.