Falls from one level to another

You must manage the health and safety risks from a person falling from one level to another at your place of work.

If you're a person in control of a business or undertaking (PCBU), the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (WHS Regulation) outlines your obligations in relation to managing the risk of falls in your industry. Your responsibilities include:

• managing the risks of a fall, from one level to another, where injury is likely (s.78)
• ensuring all work is carried out on the ground or on a solid construction (s.78(3)). Where this is not possible you must provide adequate protection to reduce the risk of falls (s.79(2))
• working through the hierarchy of controls outlined in (s.79(3)), including the use of higher order controls (e.g. edge protection).

These provisions aim to ensure that each hazard that may result in a fall is identified, assessed, and has control measures implemented to prevent or reduce the exposure to risk.

Incidents

You should notify WHSQ of an incident if a fall has occurred in your workplace that has resulted in an injury or death.

More information

The Managing the risk of falls at workplaces Code of Practice 2021 (PDF, 3.9 MB) provides more information on managing the risks of falls, the use of ladders, and fall prevention devices.