Work at Height Regulations 2005 regulation 12, UK wide
Scaffold Inspections
Falls from height remain the single largest cause of workplace death in Great Britain, accounting for 31 of the 126 worker deaths provisionally reported for 2025/26. Most scaffold failures are not exotic. They are a missing tie, a removed board or an alteration nobody inspected. AL23 Safety carries out independent scaffold inspections and sets up compliant inspection regimes for clients UK wide.
What is a scaffold inspection?
A recorded check by a competent person, in position, before use and on a cycle
A scaffold inspection is the examination required by regulation 12 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It happens with the scaffold standing in its final position, it is carried out by someone whose competence matches the complexity of the structure and it produces a written report rather than a signature on a tag.
There are three separate triggers and most sites remember only one. The scaffold must be inspected after installation or assembly before it is used. It must be inspected again after anything liable to jeopardise its safety. Where it is a working platform used in construction work from which a person could fall two metres or more, it must also have been inspected on site within the previous seven days.
Who needs one
Whoever is using the scaffold, not only whoever built it
- Principal contractors and main contractors running construction sites with scaffold on them.
- Clients and building owners who hire scaffold for maintenance, roofing or facade work.
- Housing providers and managing agents with standing access scaffold on occupied blocks.
- Fit out and refurbishment contractors using birdcages, mobile towers and internal access scaffold.
- Duty holders who need an independent second view on scaffold inspected by the company that erected it.
The regulations that apply
Your legal framework, in plain terms
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to all work at height with no minimum height and they set the inspection duties for scaffold at regulation 12. They sit alongside the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Regulation 6 sets the hierarchy that decides whether a scaffold is the right answer at all. Avoid work at height where reasonably practicable, prevent falls where it cannot be avoided, then minimise the distance and consequence of a fall.
Regulation 12(2)
Work equipment must not be used after installation or assembly in any position unless it has been inspected in that position. A yard certificate is not an inspection.
Regulation 12(3)
Where safety depends on how the equipment is installed, it must be inspected at suitable intervals and each time exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise safety occur. That covers substantial alteration, high winds and other adverse weather, vehicle or load impact and long periods out of use.
Regulation 12(4). The seven day rule
A working platform used in construction work, from which a person could fall two metres or more, must not be used unless it has been inspected on site within the previous seven days.
Regulation 12(5) and 12(6)
The equipment must carry physical evidence that the last inspection has been carried out and the results must be recorded and kept until the next inspection is recorded.
Regulation 12(7)
The report must be prepared before the end of the working period in which the inspection was completed and given to the person it was carried out for within 24 hours.
Seven days is a maximum, not a schedule
The regulation 12(3) trigger runs independently of the seven day cycle. A gale on Tuesday night, a lorry catching a standard on Wednesday morning or a roofer lifting three boards to land materials each require an inspection before the scaffold is used again, whatever the date on the tag. A site that treats a weekly inspection as the whole duty is not compliant.
Reports are kept on site until the construction work is completed and afterwards at the office of the person the inspection was carried out for, for three months. HSE expects those reports to be used to identify recurring issues rather than filed unread.
What we inspect and report on
From the foundations to alterations since handover
- Foundations, sole plates, base plates and the ground or structure carrying the load.
- Standards, ledgers, transoms, bracing and the tie pattern against the design or compliance sheet.
- Tie testing evidence, tie type and whether other trades have removed any.
- Working platforms, checking they are fully boarded, properly supported and free of trap hazards.
- Guardrails, toe boards, brick guards and the gaps at returns and around obstructions.
- Safe access, including ladder bays, ladder tie off, stair towers and hatch condition.
- Loading, comparing the class of the scaffold to the materials actually stacked on it.
- Sheeting, netting, fans and banners added after handover, all of which change wind loading.
- Alterations since the last inspection and whether whoever made them was competent to do so.
- Incomplete scaffolds, including warning signage and physical delineation preventing access.
The report, the certificate and the tag
Three different documents, doing three different jobs
The Schedule 7 report is the statutory record. It lists the particulars a report of inspection must contain, which in practice means the person it was carried out for, the location and description of the equipment, the date and time, any matter that could give rise to a risk to health or safety, action taken, further action considered necessary and the name and position of the person reporting.
A handover certificate is issued by the scaffolding contractor when the structure is ready for use. It records the design basis or TG20 compliance sheet reference, the permitted loading class and any limitations such as no sheeting or a maximum number of loaded lifts. It does not discharge your regulation 12 duty. Once a scaffold is handed over the user takes on the seven day inspections and those triggered by alteration and weather, which is where most disputes between contractor and hirer begin. Scaff tags give the physical evidence regulation 12(5) requires at the point of access. They are industry practice rather than law. A tag is not a report.
Standards, guidance and competence
Recognised good practice and who is allowed to apply it
The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation publishes the guidance the sector works to. TG20 covers tube and fitting scaffolds and includes the eGuide software that produces compliance sheets, the evidence that a scaffold sits inside the pre-calculated envelope. Anything outside that scope needs a bespoke design by a competent temporary works designer, which is where our temporary works coordination work picks it up. SG4 covers the prevention of falls during erection, alteration and dismantling. We name the current version in your report rather than on this page, since the suite is being revised and NASC has issued newer guidance in the interim. NASC guidance is not law. It is recognised good practice, relied on by HSE inspectors and in litigation.
Competence has no statutory definition. The test is knowledge, training and experience matching the complexity of the scaffold. HSE names CISRS, the Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme, along with manufacturer specific training for system scaffold and towers. HSE also accepts that a site manager who has completed a scaffold inspection course may inspect basic structures. Designed scaffolds, cantilevers, temporary roofs and facade retention need someone at a higher level. Whoever it is must be far enough from the erection work to write down a defect without an awkward conversation.
Our process
Register, inspect, report then design the regime
- 01
Scope and register
We list every scaffold on site, its type, its design basis and who erected it, then establish the inspection status of each.
- 02
Inspection
We inspect each structure in position against regulation 12, the design or compliance sheet and the handover limitations.
- 03
Reporting
A Schedule 7 report is issued before the end of the working period, with defects graded and photographed.
- 04
Defect resolution
We agree with the scaffolding contractor who fixes what and by when, then re-inspect before the structure returns to use.
- 05
Regime design
We set the inspection cycle, name the competent people and write the weather and alteration triggers into your site rules.
What you get
A Schedule 7 report for every structure
- A Schedule 7 report for each scaffold, issued within 24 hours of the inspection.
- A defect schedule with photographs, each item graded and given an owner and a date.
- A scaffold register showing design basis, loading class, limitations and next inspection due date.
- A review of handover certificates against what is actually standing on site.
- A written inspection regime covering the seven day cycle plus the alteration and weather triggers.
- A trend note where the same defect keeps recurring, which is usually a contractor management issue.
What we need from you
Designs, certificates and site access
- The scaffold design, TG20 compliance sheet or drawing for each structure.
- Handover certificates and the previous inspection reports.
- Site access, an induction slot and someone who can confirm which trades have altered anything.
- The scaffolding contractor and the point of contact for defects.
- Your construction phase plan so the regime sits inside it rather than beside it.
Why AL23 Safety
Taken out of use when it must be
Accountable
Where a scaffold should be taken out of use we say so on site and in writing, whoever erected it and whatever the programme says.
Expert and chartered
Qualified, chartered professionals, with competence matched to the structure and every finding tied to a regulation or a design requirement.
Practical, not just compliant
We scope the work, appoint the right specialist, interpret the results and turn them into an action plan you can actually deliver.
UK wide
We inspect scaffold on sites across the UK, alongside broader working at height safety support and CDM advice.
Get an independent view before the scaffold goes into use
Tell us what is standing and we will tell you what is involved
A structure count and a rough description are enough to scope a visit. If you only need the regime designed and your own people trained to run it, we will say so.
Common questions
Answers, up front
Cannot see your question? Get in touch and we will answer it directly.
Contact usThe seven day rule applies to a working platform used in construction work from which a person could fall two metres or more. A low internal platform outside construction work does not fall within regulation 12(4), though the duties in 12(2) and 12(3) still apply to it. Most site scaffold is caught. Assume it is unless you have checked.
The user. The handover certificate confirms the scaffold was complete and inspected before first use. It does not transfer the ongoing duty back to the erector. If you want the scaffolding contractor to carry out the seven day inspections, that has to be in the contract and the reports have to reach you.
The scaffold must be inspected before it is used again, whatever the date of the last seven day inspection. Adverse weather is an exceptional circumstance under regulation 12(3). Set a wind speed trigger in your site rules and name who checks it.
For basic structures, yes, where they have completed a recognised scaffold inspection course. Designed, cantilevered, suspended and facade retention scaffolds need training and experience matched to that structure. Where the scaffolder and the inspector sit in the same organisation, an independent inspection is worth commissioning periodically.
Cost depends on the number of structures, their complexity, whether we attend weekly or set up your own regime and audit it and where the site is. Setting up a compliant regime and training your team is often cheaper across a project than buying a visit every seven days. Send the project length and structure count and we will price both options.
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