How to Structure Working at Height Training Records

Avoid the all-purpose WAH column

A short awareness course, harness-user instruction, PASMA tower course and IPAF MEWP category answer different questions. Record each as a distinct requirement with its scope. The risk assessment and work plan determine the access approach; the matrix helps check records after that decision, not before it.

Useful categories in a record set

• General working-at-height information or awareness
• Harness use, inspection or rescue role
• IPAF category such as 3a or 3b
• PASMA course matching the tower activity
• Scaffold inspection where assigned
• Roof-access or fragile-surface instruction
• Task-specific rescue briefing and team arrangement

Check the team, equipment and dates together

Before mobilisation, compare the selected people with the specified equipment and rescue plan. Look for certificates expiring before completion and for evidence missing from subcontract workers. A renewal booking is useful planning information but is not a current credential.

1. Confirm the access method through the project process.
2. Assign the relevant record set to each role.
3. Verify categories and certificate evidence.
4. Check expiry through the whole work period.
5. Record project briefings separately from portable training.

Maintain records around changing access plans

Construction sequencing often changes the chosen access method. A crew initially planned behind collective edge protection may later use a MEWP for snagging, or a mobile tower may replace a podium. Make the method change an explicit trigger to revisit assigned requirements, equipment inspection and rescue arrangements. Record familiarisation or project briefings with the project rather than pretending they extend an IPAF or PASMA credential. During spot checks, compare the worker, card category and actual machine or tower activity. Keep failed, cancelled and rescheduled renewal actions visible to the owner so the same person is not repeatedly allocated on the strength of an uncompleted booking.

Where several contractors share access equipment, agree who checks operator evidence and who controls keys or authorisation. A principal contractor’s acceptance of a card does not automatically satisfy the employer’s own familiarisation process. When workers supply screenshots from digital card apps, verify them through the scheme route required by your policy and record the check date. Remove duplicate scans that obscure which card or category is current, while retaining an audit history where needed.

Records do not make the method safe

FieldClear does not select equipment, inspect access systems, produce rescue plans or determine competence. It displays the training requirements and evidence you assign. Seek competent work-at-height advice and follow current regulation and guidance; this content is not legal advice.