Working platform means any platform used as a place of work or as a means of access to or egress from a place of work. It includes any scaffold, mobile platform, trestle, gangway, etc.

A working platform can be a guarded working platform (with guard rails) such as a scaffold or a MEWP. It can also be an unguarded working platform where fall mitigation measures are provided eg nets or airbags or personal fall protection systems are provided.

A working platform needs to be stable, of suitable and sufficient strength, possess a suitable surface through which no person can fall and be of sufficient dimension to allow work to be carried out safely.

A working platform is safe when you cannot fall off it or through it, or when measures are taken to mitigate a fall from it. A duty holder has to make an assessment as to whether a working platform constitutes a suitable surface to work from. They then have to apply fall protection measures to it in accordance with the principles of the hierarchy. Preference should be given to collective fall prevention i.e. guard rails etc. Personal fall prevention measures could also be applied if collective fall prevention is not reasonably practicable e.g. personal fall prevention systems or work restraint.

If fall prevention is not reasonably practicable, collective fall mitigation should be applied e.g. nets and airbags. If collective fall mitigation is not reasonably practicable, personal fall mitigation measures should be used in association with the working platform e.g. fall arrest, work positioning, etc.

Given the variety of fall protection measures that can be applied to a working platform, a number of situations can constitute a safe working platform eg a roof, top of a vehicle or its load, a tree, top of a piece of equipment or plant, aircraft wing, etc. providing fall prevention or fall mitigation measures are applied.

The term 'any' in the definition of the working platform, widens the definition beyond the traditional guarded working platforms such as scaffolds or MEWPs.

See also the definition of an existing place of work. A working platform differs from an existing safe place of work because it requires work equipment to make it safe, whereas an existing place of work has existing permanent fall prevention measures in place.

There is no minimum width for a working platform in the WAHR. The enforcement expectation is that working platforms should be a least 600 mm wide unless a risk assessment can justify a narrower width, e.g. working platforms used for pylon working can be narrower because wider working platforms are heavier and can affect safety in terms of the ability of the pylon to support the weight.