For Marine and Ports employers and workers, this guide explains how to carry out and record a work-at-height risk assessment, and how a Working at Heights Course ties it to your day-to-day Marine and Ports work.
Risk Assessment in Marine and Ports
A maintenance team accessing a quayside crane gantry in Cork or Arklow, where a fall could be to the deck or into the water. When it comes to how to carry out and record a work-at-height risk assessment, Marine and Ports teams have to control hazards such as exposed, weather-driven conditions, work on containers and stacks and access to cranes and gantries. Port height work adds drowning risk to fall risk, so rescue planning must cover both.
The Marine and Ports action list
- Record a risk assessment for each Marine and Ports task at height
- Choose collective protection before personal protection
- Certify the team with a Working at Heights Course
- Inspect equipment and keep the logs
- Plan rescue before work begins
The Working at Heights Course makes compliance simple
You do not need a classroom or a lost work day to fix this. Our Working at Heights Course is delivered fully online, takes about 45 minutes, and issues a downloadable certificate the same day. It is CPD certified, RoSPA approved and QQI aligned, and it is written specifically for Marine and Ports teams across Ireland.
The Working at Heights Training covers the avoid-prevent-minimise hierarchy, ladder and stepladder safety, MEWPs and scaffolds, harnesses and anchor points, and how to carry out a proper risk assessment. Every learner finishes with a recognised Working at Heights Certificate that stands up to HSA inspection and supports your insurance position.
Training that goes beyond the tick-box
Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of serious and fatal workplace injury in Ireland, year after year. The pattern is depressingly consistent for Risk Assessment in Marine and Ports: a short task, a familiar setting, a ladder or platform that seemed fine, and a single moment of overreach. Proper training breaks that pattern by making the safe choice the automatic one.
Young and new workers are over-represented in fall statistics, and Risk Assessment in Marine and Ports is no exception. Setting good habits from the very first day - never climbing on furniture, never overreaching, always inspecting equipment - is far easier than unlearning bad ones later. Early certification with a Working at Heights Course pays back for an entire career.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a risk assessment for working at height?
Yes. A written, task-specific risk assessment is a legal requirement before any work at height begins.
How does this affect Marine and Ports specifically?
In Marine and Ports, the same rules apply with sector-specific hazards. Our Working at Heights Training covers both.
Is online training enough for Marine and Ports?
Yes for the core legal and safe-system knowledge; add equipment-specific tickets where the Marine and Ports task requires them.
More on staying safe at height
Weather turns a routine job into a dangerous one faster than anything else in Ireland. Wind, rain, frost and poor light all raise the risk of marine and ports work at height, and the right call is often to stop and reassess rather than push on. Knowing where that line sits is part of being properly trained.
Get certified today
Do not wait for an HSA inspection or a near miss to act. Marine and Ports employers and workers can complete the Working at Heights Course online in 45 minutes and download a certificate the same day. For 10 or more learners, see our team training rates, or contact our team for a tailored quote.
Start the online Working at Heights Training now and put a recognised certificate in every worker's file before the next job at height begins.
