Work through the hierarchy, honestly
- Eliminate the height work. Assemble at ground level, prefabricate, use extendable tools. This is skipped more often than it is genuinely impossible.
- Work from a solid construction — a properly built and handed-over platform, scaffold or EWP, rather than a ladder.
- Passive fall prevention — guard rails, edge protection, covers that are fixed and labelled.
- Work positioning — systems that hold a worker in a position where a fall cannot occur.
- Fall arrest — last, and only with anchorage, rescue arrangements and training all genuinely in place.
- Administrative controls and PPE alone are not fall protection.
Penetrations and edges
Covers that are not fixed and not labelled get moved. Edge protection removed for a delivery gets left off. Both are short-duration conditions, which is why they are rarely in a document and frequently in an incident.
The practical control is a rule about who may remove protection, and a check that it went back.
Scaffold and EWP handover
- Scaffold erected, inspected and tagged by a competent person before use.
- Re-inspection after alteration, after an incident, and at the required interval.
- Alteration only by those authorised — this is a common and serious gap.
- EWP operators licensed for the type and familiar with the specific machine.
- Rescue arrangements that do not rely on emergency services arriving quickly.
Documents that have to line up
The SWMS, the scaffold handover certificate, the EWP pre-start and the permit if one is in use should describe the same method. Where they differ, the crew follows whichever they were briefed on, and the records will later show three different intentions.
Verification
Go to the edge. Look at whether the protection described is the protection present, whether anchor points are what the SWMS assumed, and whether the rescue plan could actually be executed by the people on site that day. Record what was seen.
Common questions
At what height do fall controls apply in construction?
Specific trigger heights for high-risk construction work are set in the WHS Regulation and differ between jurisdictions. The duty to manage fall risk applies regardless of whether a particular threshold is reached.
Is a harness enough for working at heights?
Fall arrest is the lowest order of control and depends on suitable anchorage, correct fitting, training and a workable rescue plan. It is a last resort, not a default.
Where we work. Standard service area: Gold Coast, Logan, Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast. Outside this area, contact Obras for availability and a tailored quote — additional travel and site attendance costs may apply.
General information only. This guide describes common construction practice. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for the WHS legislation applying in your jurisdiction, which differs between states and territories. Obras does not certify or guarantee compliance — nobody honestly can. Your officers keep every duty under the WHS Act.