Working at Height

Working at Height

A high-quality chimney job cannot be completed properly if the person doing it is standing on tiptoe, hanging onto a ladder for dear life or unable to clearly see and control the work.

Working at height is an everyday part of professional chimney work, but no two properties are the same. Roof pitch, age and construction, chimney position and condition, access, the surrounding street scene and buildings, weather, task duration and the work itself all affect the most appropriate method.

Scarlett Fireplaces assesses each site individually and selects the access method to suit the particular job. Depending on the property and task, this may include professional ladders and roof ladders, scaffolding, or our own powered-access cherry picker.

Sometimes a properly secured ladder system is appropriate. Sometimes the job requires scaffolding or powered access. Sometimes changing conditions mean the work should not proceed at all.

Good health and safety does not remove professional judgement. It depends upon competent judgement, suitable equipment and understanding the particular site in front of you.

This allows us to gain safe and sympathetic access to the wide variety of chimneys found on Tudor and timber-framed buildings, Victorian terraces, Georgian houses, modern homes and commercial properties, while protecting our workforce, customers, the public and the buildings we work on.

Experience at Height

Working at height has been part of Scarlett Fireplaces from the very beginning.

Jason Scarlett started his working life as a scaffolder, following in the footsteps of his father, working on projects ranging from inner London to industrial sites, oil and gas installations and the Borneo rainforest. The photograph above shows Jason working at height in Borneo in 1990, years before he established his career specialising in fireplaces and chimneys.

That early experience helped shape the way we still approach chimney work today.

Access is not something considered after the fireplace or chimney job has been designed. It is part of the job.

Decades of experience working on British roofs and chimneys have taught us how different buildings, materials, access routes, street scenes and working conditions affect what can safely and practically be achieved.

Training and equipment are essential, but so are experience, practical skill and knowing the limits of both the person and the access method being used.

The important skill is not simply knowing how to reach a chimney. It is knowing when one method is appropriate, when another is required and when not to proceed at all.

That principle remains at the heart of how Scarlett Fireplaces safely approaches chimney work.