Access equipment — Working at Height Practice

Sample questions

1. 01Schedule 6 sets a legal requirement for the surface a ladder stands on. What must that surface allow?

   • AA second person to stand on the bottom rung
   • BIts feet to rest on a board or timber offcut
   • CIts foot to sit exactly 1 m from the wall
   • DIts rungs or steps to stay horizontal

   Why: Schedule 6 says a ladder must stand on a surface that is stable, firm, strong enough and suitable, so that its rungs or steps stay horizontal. The 1 in 4 angle is HSE guidance and depends on the height, so there is no fixed 1 m. Footing is HSE’s last resort for securing a ladder, not a rule about the ground, and HSE guidance is to use proprietary levelling devices rather than bricks or timber offcuts.

2. 02A ten-minute job means working from a stepladder right beside an open stairwell, where a fall would be serious. Is the stepladder justified?

   • AYes, because it is well under the 30-minute figure
   • BNo; stepladders may never be used near stairwells
   • CYes, provided a second person holds the steps
   • DNo; a short job alone does not make the risk low

   Why: Schedule 6 needs the risk to be low and either the use to be short or there to be site features that cannot be changed. HSE is clear that short duration is not the deciding factor: you must consider risk first. A two-minute job next to an open stairwell can still be the wrong job for a ladder. Being under the 30-minute guide figure does not settle it. Holding the steps does nothing about the drop, and there is no blanket ban near stairwells.

3. 03The foot of a leaning ladder is 2 m out from the wall. Using the 1 in 4 rule, how high up the wall should its top be resting?

   • A10 m up the wall
   • B4 m up the wall
   • C8 m up the wall
   • D6 m up the wall

   Why: The 1 in 4 rule is one unit out for every four units up, which gives about 75°, the angle HSE describes as the safest to work from. Two metres out therefore matches eight metres up. Four or six metres up would make the ladder too shallow and more likely to slide out; ten metres would make it too steep.