What WorkSafe NZ Requires for Working at Height

Working at height is the biggest cause of serious harm in New Zealand construction, and WorkSafe treats it accordingly — the rules may not work the way you remember. This guide covers what WorkSafe actually expects when your crew works at height, how the hierarchy of controls applies, and where safety nets fit.

It is general guidance, not legal advice — for the detail, WorkSafe's Good Practice Guidelines: Working at Height in New Zealand is the source of truth. But it will help you ask the right questions about your own site.

There is no longer a 'safe' height

A lot of people still talk about a "three-metre rule." It is gone. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, there is no minimum trigger height: you have to manage the risk of any fall that could cause injury — whether that is off a roof or off a low platform onto steel below. Height is one factor, but so is what is underneath and how someone could land.

In practice that means assessing every task that involves a fall risk and putting controls in place that are reasonably practicable — not waiting for a magic number before you act.

The hierarchy of controls for working at height

WorkSafe expects you to work through fall controls in order of effectiveness, not convenience. The further up this list you can stay, the better:

• Eliminate the risk. Can the work be done without going up at all? Prefabricating roof trusses or assembling frames at ground level removes the hazard entirely.
• Prevent the fall with collective, passive controls. Where you cannot eliminate height, stop falls happening for everyone at once — scaffolding, edge protection and guardrails.
• Minimise the fall with collective, passive controls. Where a fall cannot be fully prevented, catch it close to the work surface. Safety nets are the main collective system here — they protect the whole crew without anyone clipping on.
• Individual, active systems come last. Personal fall restraint and fall-arrest harness systems are the bottom of the list, because they protect one person at a time and rely on each worker using them correctly every time.

The key principle running through it: collective, passive protection beats individual, active protection. A system that protects everyone and needs no action from the worker is far more reliable than one that depends on each person clipping to the right anchor. We compare these systems in detail in our fall arrest vs restraint vs nets guide.

Where safety nets fit

Safety nets are a collective, passive fall-arrest system: rigged below the work area, they catch a falling worker or dropped tools across the whole span, with a soft-landing design that limits the forces of the fall. Because they protect everyone above them without individual action, they sit above personal harness systems in WorkSafe's order of preference.

For the rules to be met, the net itself and the way it is rigged both matter. Industry practice in New Zealand follows the EN 1263-1 safety-net standard, with rigging carried out by FASET-certified installers — the recognised competency standard for safety-net rigging.

What a compliant safety net install includes

A safety net install that stands up to scrutiny is not just "a net went up." On a Link Safety Nets job you get:

• Nets that meet the EN 1263-1 standard, rigged by FASET-certified installers.
• Rigging positioned to keep the fall distance and the clearance below within safe limits for the net type.
• A handover certificate and documentation for your site file, recording what was installed and when.
• Re-inspection as the build progresses and the work moves, plus safe removal when the job is done.

That paperwork is not box-ticking — it is the evidence that the control you relied on was fit for purpose, which is exactly what WorkSafe looks for if anything goes wrong.

Getting it right on your site

If you are planning roofing, truss, steel or re-roof work anywhere across Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Porirua or the Kapiti Coast, safety nets are usually the most practical way to meet WorkSafe's expectations for collective fall protection. Get an instant price for your site, see how our installation, inspection and removal works, or check we cover your address.