Working at Heights Compliance.. What You Need to Know
Updated: Oct 3
Working at height is one of the most heavily regulated activities on an industrial site, and one of the most commonly misunderstood. The misunderstanding usually sounds like this: "the contractor is responsible for their own safety."
They are responsible for theirs. You are still responsible for yours.
The duty does not transfer
Under the work health and safety framework, a business that engages a contractor does not hand over its duty of care. Where duties overlap, they are shared, and each party must do what is reasonably practicable within their influence and control.
In practice that means you are expected to have satisfied yourself that the method is appropriate, the people are competent, and the risk has been managed - before the work starts, and with something in writing to show for it.
The hierarchy of control, applied honestly
The law does not ask you to make work at height safe. It asks you to eliminate it if you reasonably can, and if you cannot, to work down a hierarchy of controls in order.
Eliminate - can the task be done at ground level? Lowering a component to be worked on is a control, not a cop-out.
Substitute or isolate - a fixed platform, a permanent walkway, an engineered access solution.
Engineering controls - scaffolding, elevating work platforms, suspended platforms, rope access systems.
Administrative controls - permits, exclusion zones, procedures, supervision.
PPE - last, and never on its own.
Rope access sits in the engineering controls tier, alongside scaffold and EWPs. It is not a lesser option, and it is not a shortcut - it is a different engineered system with a different risk profile, suited to different jobs.
The part most people skip: rescue
A fall arrest system that stops a fall has done half its job. The other half is getting the person down.
Suspension in a harness is time-critical. A rescue plan that depends on calling emergency services and waiting is not a rescue plan for a suspended worker - it is a plan to hope. Every compliant rope access operation carries a documented rescue plan and a technician on site capable of performing it.
If you take one thing from this: when you review a contractor's safety documentation, read the rescue plan first. It tells you more about the outfit than the rest of the pack combined.
Competence has to be demonstrable
"Experienced" is not a competency. What stands up in an audit is a recognised qualification, current certification, logged hours and documented supervision. For rope access that means IRATA certification against the Code of Practice and AS/NZS ISO 22846.
What good documentation looks like
Before mobilisation you should have, and should have read:
A Safe Work Method Statement specific to the scope - not a generic template with your site name on it
A site-specific risk assessment
A documented rescue plan naming who performs it
Current certifications and logbooks for every technician on the crew
Equipment inspection records
See how this works in practice on our Mackay and Bowen Basin rope access work, and across our industrial rope access services.
Frequently asked questions
At what height do the fall provisions apply?
Specific duties attach at two metres in construction work, but the duty to manage the risk of a fall is not switched on by a number. A fall from under two metres onto plant or into an opening can be just as serious, and the risk still has to be managed.
Is rope access compliant with Australian standards?
Yes. Industrial rope access in Australia is carried out to AS/NZS ISO 22846 Parts 1 and 2, alongside the IRATA International Code of Practice. Both should be named in a contractor's documentation.
Who is responsible if a contractor's worker is injured on my site?
Potentially both of you. Duties are shared where they overlap, and a regulator will look at what you did to satisfy yourself the work was being done safely. This is why the paperwork you accepted before mobilisation matters so much.
Do I need a permit for rope access work?
That depends on your own site's permit system rather than on legislation. Most resources and processing sites require a working at height permit, and often a confined space or hot work permit alongside it. Confirm it during scoping, not on the morning.
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