Guide
Confined space and high level cleaning: when the job changes
Updated
Two elements turn a cleaning job into a specialist operation: somebody has to go inside something, or somebody has to work above the floor. Either one changes the crew, the equipment, the paperwork and the price, and neither should appear as a line item in a general cleaning quote.
Confined spaces
Tanks, silos, pits, sumps, vessels and some ducts are confined spaces: enclosed or largely enclosed places where a foreseeable specified risk exists, such as loss of consciousness, asphyxiation, fire or drowning. HSE's position is unambiguous: "Wherever possible, you should avoid carrying out tasks in confined spaces" (hse.gov.uk). The duties sit in the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 (legislation.gov.uk), which also require suitable and sufficient emergency arrangements before entry.
- Remote cleaning first. Ask whether the vessel can be cleaned without entry, using lances, rotating heads or vacuum systems. Frequently it can, and that is both safer and cheaper.
- A trained team, not a trained person. Entry work needs entrants, a top man and rescue provision, so the crew is bigger than the task alone suggests.
- Atmosphere monitoring and isolation. Gas testing before and during entry, and positive isolation of anything that could fill, heat or pressurise the space.
- Rescue that does not rely on the fire service. Arrangements must be in place to get someone out, planned in advance and resourced by the contractor.
- A permit to work that your site and the contractor both sign, with the scope, the isolations and the duration written on it.
Working at height
HSE defines work at height as "work in any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury", and there is no minimum height below which the duties stop applying. The order to work through is to avoid work at height where it is reasonably practicable, then prevent falls using a safe place of work or the right equipment, then minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, considering collective protection before personal protection (hse.gov.uk). The duties themselves are in the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (legislation.gov.uk).
- Ask which access method is priced. Scissor lift, boom, tower, rope access and reach-and-wash are different prices and different capabilities.
- Check the floor takes the machine. Loading limits, mezzanine decks and drainage channels rule out plant more often than people expect.
- Fragile surfaces and services. Rooflights, cladding, live conductors and sprinkler heads all need naming in the method statement before anyone goes up.
- Consider whether it needs to be reached at all. Reach-and-wash or long-reach vacuum keeps people on the ground, which is what the hierarchy asks for first.
What to get in writing before work starts
- The risk assessment and method statement for the specific task, not a generic template with your address typed in.
- Evidence of competence for the crew doing the specialist element, and the name of the person supervising it.
- The rescue plan for confined space entry, and the access equipment inspection records for work at height.
- The permit process your site will run, agreed with the contractor in advance so the crew is not stood waiting on the day.
This page summarises published HSE guidance and the named regulations for buyers of cleaning services. It is not health and safety advice for your site, and it does not replace your own risk assessment or a competent adviser. Where the work involves entry or height, verify competence and arrangements with the contractor before work begins.