Prevention of Falls - Have your Say

The Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) is seeking feedback on a draft National Code of Practice for Prevention of Falls in Housing Construction.

One of the key elements of the proposed code which will affect housing construction in WA is the reduction of fall prevention heights from 3m down to 2m across all construction sites.

This change stands to have significant impacts on the industry in both costs and process with the requirements that every site will now require full perimeter scaffolding.

The costs and logistics of this requirement are staggering in magnitude and will certainly drive additional costs onto the consumer in an already unaffordable housing market.

A notification has been sent to members to alert them to the future requirements and provide information to form the basis of their own private submissions. No substantive case can be shown that these measures in any way reduce injuries on the work site and in fact, the one state with this requirement has seen an increase in falls since the introduction.

Whilst HIA is submitting a national response to this issue, members are encouraged to make a private submission and make the ASCC aware of the impacts this will have on the residential construction industry in WA. Full information is available at the DOCEP website.