Demands for 'at height' rules exemption

The comments came as mountaineering, climbing and caving enthusiasts met Work Minister Jane Kennedy in an attempt to gain an industry exemption from an EU directive on safety when working at heights.

The UK, along with other European countries, was given until 19 July to implement the Temporary Work at Height Directive, which was originally drafted with construction, agriculture and other mainstream industries in mind. The HSE has already said that the regulations are "unlikely" to come into effect until the end of this year.

Climbing instructors have claimed that the regulations will require them to use inappropriate safety equipment such as airbags, scaffolding and industrial double-rope harnesses, unless they could prove that their usual single-rope system was safe.

However, the HSE has stressed that adventure workers would be within the rules provided they observed their normal safety standards. It also dismissed as "nonsense" claims that height warning signs would have to be placed on mountains and hills.

Unfair disadvantage

Adventure professionals fear that the regulations will lead to problems with insurance and may well result in prosecutions of instructors. Guides fear that jobs will be lost in the industry, which employs around 50,000 people, many of them in remote rural areas with fragile economies.

No other European country is forcing professional adventure guides to adopt the regulations, putting the UK at an unfair disadvantage, they claimed.

The original EU directive, agreed in 2001, does not specifically mention outdoor adventure workers, referring only to people who work in high places. But the HSE has ruled that this must include those involved in outdoor leisure.

John Cousins, of Mountain Leader Training UK, said: "As things stand, the regulations expect us to avoid being at height if possible. That's a problem for us, because that's what we do. They then say that, if we have to work at height, they would prefer us to put a huge airbag at the bottom of the cliff. If we can't do that, then it is a cherry-picker, scaffolding or a ladder, and if we can't use them, it is two ropes.

"Under the regulations, we can use one rope only if we can prove it is safe, but that is best practice for us. Using two ropes would actually cause a hazard. Under these rules, we are in the worst-case scenario when we use the safest method."

The rules do not cover people taking part in dangerous activities for fun, putting climbing instructors in what the describe as the "ludicrous" position of teaching one set of safety procedures to novices while having to use a different, less appropriate, method themselves.

'Nothing to worry about'

Mr Cousins went on: "I have asked colleagues in France, Spain and Germany what impact the directive will have on them and they look at me as though I am daft. They have been told it doesn't apply to them.

"We have been in talks with the HSE for two and a half years, trying to persuade them that this regulation was never intended for us."

However, a spokeswoman for the HSE said the rules would have to apply to all workers: "We are quite clear that the adventure activity sector has exemplary standards of safety," she said. "If they stick to those standards, they will have no problem with these regulations.

"They have nothing to worry about. It is business as usual, so long as they stick to their own guidance. We have done all we can in terms of listening to them and trying to address their concerns."

She added that the European Union had confirmed that the HSE was right to interpret the directive as applying to the outdoor adventure industry.

The HSE spokeswoman also told The NetRisk that any claims that the EU directive would mean warning signs would have to be placed on hills and mountains were "simply nonsense".

Johnny Thomson