FAQs
Working from Heights - what are the regulations?
On July 1, 2007, the consolidated Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 replaced the individual regulations. Prevention of Falls is part Part 3.3 of Chapter 3: Physical Hazards.
For a summary of the legislation, and a link to the full text, go to the Regulations section of this site, in particlur, the page on the Falls Chapter. These can be purchased from Information Victoria, 356 Collins Street, Melbourne, Telephone 1300 366 356.
Falls from height are a major workplace hazard resulting in fatalities and injuries across a broad range of Victorian industries, with the construction industry accounting for 27 per cent of all related injury claims. The purpose of the regulations is to prevent incidents at workplaces involving falls of more than 2 metres, and to prevent or reduce injury resulting from those falls.
For more information on the regulations, go to WorkSafe's Information page on the Falls Prevention. Here you will find "Questions and Answers" and a summary of the Falls Regulations for employers, workers and health and safety reps, as well as other information.
Remember that in Victoria 23 workers have died as a result of falls. Under no circumstances should workers be on top of roofs or working at heights without protection. Contact your union immediately.
In addition to the regulations, there are two codes of practice for the construction industry (available online as pdf documents):
- Code of Practice for Prevention of Falls in Housing Construction, and
- Code of Practice for Prevention of Falls in General Construction
Hard copies, which are free, can be ordered by phone from WorkCover publications on (03) 9641 1333, or by email: publications@workcover.vic.gov.au.
The Regulations, which apply to all workplaces, cover tasks involving the potential for a person to fall more than two metres. A fall is defined as meaning a person's involuntary fall of more than two metres.
Under the Regulations, the employer is required to identify fall hazards, assess the risk of all hazards identified and eliminate the risk. If elimination of the risk is not practicable, then it must be reduced as far as practicable. This must be done by arranging for tasks to be performed on the ground or on a solid construction. If it is not practicable to do so or only part of a task can be undertaken in this way, the employer must control the risk, so far as is practicable, by use of a range of measures. The regulations require measures to be selected in accordance with a specified hierarchy of control.
Falls from height is not only a problem in Victoria. The UK Health and Safety Executive has a webpage on this serious hazard. The webpage has a number of resources and links. In July 2003, the HSE released a research report: Falls from height - Prevention and risk control effectiveness. The report provides
- a definitive baseline for measuring improvements in the incidence rate of falls from height;
- a quantified model of the influences affecting falls from height covering human, hardware and external factors; and
- a toolkit for selecting measures, setting performance targets and monitoring improvement.
To view the 428-page report, click here
Last amended November 2007.