Posted By Paul Woodard Can somebody collaborate or otherwise the following assumption; Table 11 of Part K of the Building Regulations indicates that a handrail adjacent an openable window which extends to floor level should be a minimum of 800mm AFFL. But, as soon as a cleaner attempts to clean the glass in said window, the handrail would need to be a minimum of 910mm AFFL. a) because in the CDM Regulations cleaning is classified as construction work and; b) existing condition for fall protection from Working at Height Regulations. Therefore shouldn't the Building Regulations be updated to reflect this? Thanks.

Posted By Bob Youel complying with the building regs should not put somebody at risk, RA is the key - this is an area people 'hide' behind - "I built it to the regs Gove so I am OK even if the man did fall off the roof& it was obvious thatsomebody would" the building regs are continually being tweaked to allow for risk assessment [common sense] - however undertaking a design based on RA puts a designer out on a limb as its usually an opinion as against a nice measurement that is laid down in a document even when its obvious that the mewasurement is wrong in a specific case go with the risk assessment

Posted By Charley Farley-Trelawney Paul I tend to agree in part with the above response. Whilst cleaning of windows or any other cleaning per se is not a CDM issue, it would be if it formed part of the overall project, i.e builders clean including glass on a construction project that was under the CDM heading and prior to Practical Completion being achieved. With respect to window cleaning in general the WAH regulations play a key part and if one follows the hierarchical route then eliminating the need to WAH would be the first target; if it is not possible to use a "reach & wash" style system then a barriered method would be next; it would be at that stage my RA would look at best practice regarding the heights of said guard rails, and the relationship between construction welfare and WAH 910 and 1100 respectively are academic to you if the RA does not support the minimum recommendations and considers that in a given situation if you want a higher barrier then don't hesitate to have one. The gap between any railing should also be considered, I personally prefer nothing greater than 400mm; when all is said and done you will find many references to "it should be at least" so if you consider that the minimum best practice/ACOP etc is insufficient for you then by all means have it higher, it is your choice to exceed minimum requirements. CFT