Posted By Les Whyte I am currently enetering my final year on the Msc course and am considering selecting Working at Heights as a topic for my disertation. I would appreciate any advice that my fellow safety colleagues can offer.

Posted By Frank Hallett Good choice! Now comes the hard bit - producing something of value. May I suggest that you explore the issues [sometimes contradictory] that are addressed by Schedules 1 - 4 with regrad to protecting those who may be exposed to working at an edge that is in the middle of the road and a vertical confined space entry with the only means of access/egress by harness, winch & tripod. Frank Hallett

Posted By steven bentham Les This is a massive subject for you to research. Why don't you consider narrowing it down to improve your work: i.e. working at heights in construction, or for steel work or stage lighting or whatever your interested in. This will also enable you to contact lots of employers in that type of industry!

Posted By Richard Hinckley Steve certainly is right, Industrial Rope Access continues to grow in popularity, it is also increasingly opted for by Architects and Designers as the primary means of access for tasks as High Level Cleaning and Maintenance on NEW build projects. Over the years the good work by IRATA (Industrial Rope Access Trade Assosciation) and the member companies has ensured that the Technicians involved in this work are trained and supervised to the highest level and thus Rope Access can claim to be the "Safest Form" of High Level Access available. We as a business have written a paper on the Use of Industrial Rope Access v Cradle Access Systems, if anyone would like a copy please email me and I will send you one by reply.

Posted By David AB Thomas Further to the message re IRATA's accident record (above) you may wish to refer to the response from SAEMA: http://www.saema.org/Doc...RATA%20Open%20Letter.doc The ‘rope access v. cradles’ debate is well worthy of consideration as, under the new WAH Regulations, collective protection takes preference over personal protection. Under CDM, designers have to make similar judgements - rope access is not the top of the fall protection hierarchy. The following sites may also be of interest: http://www.acwaht.org.uk/ http://roofworkadvice.info http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm http://www.hseresearchpr...s.com/ProjectSearch.aspx http://www.hasg.org.uk/index.php Good luck!