Working at Heights Course

Lesson 1 • Defining Work at Heights

Clarifies what constitutes work at heights and why it demands specialised controls. Anchors all subsequent chapters in a shared hazard vocabulary.

Lesson 2 • Fall Statistics and Incident Analysis

Presents industry fatality and injury data to contextualise risk severity. Teaches workers to extract lessons from real incident reports.

Lesson 3 • Regulatory and Duty-of-Care Framework

Outlines the legal duties of employers, supervisors, and workers under occupational health and safety regulations. Connects compliance obligations to practical site decisions.

Lesson 1 • Safe Work Method Statements

Guides workers through drafting and reviewing safe work method statements for height tasks. Ensures risk assessment outputs are translated into actionable field instructions.

Lesson 2 • Site Inspection and Pre-Task Checks

Covers structured walkthroughs and pre-task inspection checklists for elevated work areas. Reinforces the hierarchy of controls by linking findings to corrective actions.

Lesson 3 • Dynamic Risk Assessment in the Field

Trains workers to reassess risk continuously as conditions change during a task. Builds adaptive decision-making skills that complement formal pre-task assessments.

Lesson 4 • Risk Assessment Methodology

Teaches likelihood-versus-consequence scoring and risk matrix use for height tasks. Connects assessment outputs directly to control selection decisions.

Lesson 1 • Covers and Hole Protection

Details marking, load rating, and securing methods for floor and roof opening covers. Prevents falls through openings, a leading cause of fatal incidents.

Lesson 2 • Safety Nets and Debris Nets

Explains installation geometry, drop distance, and energy absorption requirements for safety nets. Distinguishes personnel nets from debris nets and their respective applications.

Lesson 3 • Guardrail Systems

Covers load requirements, component specifications, and installation standards for guardrail systems. Establishes guardrails as the preferred engineering control before PPE is considered.

Lesson 1 • Harness Fitting and Donning Procedures

Provides step-by-step fitting and adjustment procedures to ensure harness effectiveness during a fall. Incorrect fit is a leading cause of harness-related injury.

Lesson 2 • Inspection, Maintenance, and Retirement

Establishes pre-use inspection criteria and retirement triggers for all fall arrest components. Ensures equipment integrity is verified before every use.

Lesson 3 • Anchor Point Selection and Strength

Covers minimum anchor strength requirements and methods for identifying suitable structural anchors. Prevents system failure at the most critical connection point.

Lesson 4 • Fall Clearance Calculations

Teaches the arithmetic for determining total fall clearance distance before a worker reaches an obstruction. Ensures workers never use fall arrest where insufficient clearance exists.

Lesson 1 • Scaffold Erection and Inspection

Details the sequence for erecting, modifying, and dismantling scaffolding safely. Teaches the competent-person inspection criteria required before worker access.

Lesson 2 • Ladder Types and Selection Criteria

Compares step, extension, and fixed ladder types against task requirements and load ratings. Correct selection prevents overloading and misuse failures.

Lesson 3 • Safe Ladder Setup and Use

Covers angle ratios, securing methods, and three-point contact rules for portable ladders. Directly reduces the most common ladder-related fall mechanisms.

Lesson 4 • Scaffold Types and Components

Identifies tube-and-coupler, system, and suspended scaffold types and their structural components. Provides the vocabulary needed for scaffold inspection and erection tasks.

Lesson 1 • Fall Protection Inside the Platform

Clarifies harness and lanyard requirements specific to boom lifts and the rationale for their use. Addresses the common misconception that guardrails alone are sufficient in boom lifts.

Lesson 2 • Emergency Lowering and Rescue

Trains operators in manual lowering procedures and ground-level rescue activation. Ensures workers can respond when a platform fails or an operator becomes incapacitated.

Lesson 3 • Types of Elevated Work Platforms

Distinguishes scissor lifts, boom lifts, vertical mast lifts, and vehicle-mounted platforms by capability and limitation. Correct type selection prevents task-related incidents.

Lesson 4 • Ground and Environmental Hazard Management

Addresses ground bearing capacity, slope limits, overhead obstructions, and wind speed restrictions. Environmental factors are a leading cause of elevated work platform tip-overs.

Lesson 1 • Rope Access Rescue Procedures

Introduces assisted and self-rescue techniques specific to rope access situations. Rescue planning must be completed before any rope access work begins.

Lesson 2 • Basic Rope Access Techniques

Covers controlled descent, ascent, and lateral movement on rope access systems. Builds foundational technique before advanced manoeuvring is introduced.

Lesson 3 • Rope Access System Components

Identifies working lines, safety lines, descenders, ascenders, and anchor configurations used in rope access. Component knowledge underpins correct rigging and inspection.

Lesson 4 • Rope and Equipment Inspection

Establishes inspection criteria for ropes, harnesses, and hardware used in rope access. Rope degradation is often invisible, making systematic inspection critical.

Lesson 1 • Incident Investigation and Reporting

Teaches root-cause analysis techniques and mandatory reporting obligations following a height incident. Accurate investigation prevents recurrence and fulfills legal duties.

Lesson 2 • Rescue Methods and Equipment

Compares self-rescue, assisted rescue, and emergency services rescue for different site scenarios. Equipment selection must match the rescue method and site constraints.

Lesson 3 • Suspension Trauma and First Aid

Explains the physiological danger of prolonged harness suspension and immediate first aid priorities. Suspension trauma can be fatal within minutes, making rapid rescue essential.

Lesson 4 • Rescue Planning Requirements

Defines the regulatory requirement to have a rescue plan before any fall arrest system is used. Covers the elements that make a plan actionable rather than theoretical.