Working at Heights

What the model Regulations require

Part 4.4 of the model Work Health and Safety Regulations (5 December 2025) deals with falls. Regulation 78 requires a PCBU to manage, under Part 3.1, the risks of a person falling from one level to another where the fall is reasonably likely to cause injury to that person or anyone else. That covers a fall in or on an elevated workplace, near an opening or an edge, through a surface, or from any other place a person could fall.

Working at heights is often described as work at 2 metres or more. That is shorthand, not the legal test: regulation 78 sets no minimum height, and turns on whether a fall is reasonably likely to cause injury.

So far as is reasonably practicable, the work must be done on the ground or on a solid construction (regulation 78(3)), and the PCBU must provide a safe way into and out of the workplace and any area a person could fall from (78(4)). A solid construction has a surface that can support everyone and everything on it, barriers around its perimeter and openings, an even and readily negotiable surface and gradient, and a safe way in and out (78(5)).

Victoria is not a model WHS state; its duties sit under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. This page is general information, not legal advice: confirm the detail with your state or territory regulator.

Sources: Safe Work Australia: model Work Health and Safety Regulations (5 December 2025)

The order of fall controls

If the risk of a fall can't be eliminated, regulation 79 requires the PCBU to minimise it with adequate protection: a safe system of work that uses the first of these controls that is reasonably practicable, moving down the list only when the one above is not.

The regulation's examples of a safe system of work include temporary work platforms, training on the risks, safe work procedures, safe sequencing of work, safe use of ladders, permit systems and signs. The model Code treats no go areas, permit systems and the organising and sequencing of work as administrative controls. A combination of controls may be used if one is not enough.

Regulation 79 does not apply to stunt work, acrobatics, theatrical performances, sporting or athletic activities, or horse riding; regulation 36, the general hierarchy of control measures, applies to those instead.

Regulations 78(3), 78(4), 79(2) and 80 each carry a tier E maximum penalty: a base amount of $8,400 for an individual and $42,000 for a body corporate in Schedule 4 of the model WHS Act, indexed for CPI from 1 July 2024.

Sources: Safe Work Australia: model Work Health and Safety Regulations (5 December 2025) · Safe Work Australia: model Code of Practice, Managing the risk of falls at workplaces (October 2018) · Safe Work Australia: model Work Health and Safety Bill (5 December 2025)

Where the 2 metre figure comes from

In the model Regulations, 2 metres is the trigger for high risk construction work, not for the falls duty. Construction work that involves a risk of a person falling more than 2 metres is high risk construction work (regulation 291(a)), and a safe work method statement must be prepared before it starts (regulation 299).

Construction work is broad. It includes the repair, maintenance and refurbishment of a structure, and installing, testing or maintaining an essential service in a structure (regulation 289), so a maintenance job with a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres can need a safe work method statement.

Safe Work Australia's model Code of Practice on falls uses 2 metres twice more. Harness-based fall arrest systems should be installed so a person falls freely no more than 2 metres before the system takes effect, and a shorter free fall is preferable. Trestle scaffolds are generally not suitable for working at heights of 2 metres or above.

Below 2 metres, regulations 78 and 79 still apply wherever a fall is reasonably likely to cause injury.

Sources: Safe Work Australia: model Work Health and Safety Regulations (5 December 2025) · Safe Work Australia: model Code of Practice, Managing the risk of falls at workplaces (October 2018)

Rescue procedures for fall arrest

When a PCBU uses a fall arrest system as a control, regulation 80 requires emergency procedures, including rescue procedures, for its use. They must be tested so that they are effective, and relevant workers must get suitable and adequate information, training and instruction in them. Relevant workers are those who use or will use the system, and anyone who may start or carry out the emergency procedures.

The model Code explains why speed matters. A person held upright in a harness after a fall can suffer suspension intolerance, which can cause fainting and, depending on the person's susceptibility, renal failure and death. The Code says workers should never work alone when using a harness as fall protection, and where a rescue is likely to take more than five minutes, the harness and connection point should let the worker raise their legs to near horizontal, or the worker should carry straps for footholds.

Each component of an individual fall arrest system should be inspected by a competent person after it is installed and before it is used, at regular intervals, and immediately after it has arrested a fall, following the manufacturer's specifications and the relevant standards. After a fall, the Code says to remove the system from service until a competent person has inspected it.

Sources: Safe Work Australia: model Work Health and Safety Regulations (5 December 2025) · Safe Work Australia: model Code of Practice, Managing the risk of falls at workplaces (October 2018)