REPORT

SAFETY NETS FOR THE PREVENTION OF FALLS DURING TRUSS INSTALLATION IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY.

INTRODUCTION

The risks associated with falls during the installation of trusses in the Victorian housing industry continue to be a problem. The truss installation task is still largely conducted with employees walking internal top plates with no higher order safety controls in place.During this work employees are often exposed to falls of approximately 2.5 to 3 metres on single storey houses and up to 7 metres on double storey houses.

On a recent visit to Auckland, New Zealand I was invited to a number of housing sites in Auckland’s western suburbs to observe a fall prevention safety control that is specifically designed to prevent falls during truss installation.This fall control involves the use of safety nets to catch falling employees.

SAFETY NETS

The use of safety catch nets in New Zealand during truss installation is a fall control that is now gaining momentum with more and more housing construction companies having them installed.

The nets are supplied to sites in New Zealand by a company called Safety Nets NZ. The nets are supplied to Safety Nets NZ by Leon De Oro Nets which is a company located in the United Kingdom (UK).

The nets are manufactured in the UK to the European standard UNE-EN 1263-1 and are installed on site by qualified riggers from Safety Nets NZ.The nets are manufactured with built in test panels so that each net can be tested annually with the test date applied to the net by tag.

The nets are slung from galvanised steel hook brackets that are screwed to the wall frame top plates or lintels at centres of 1200mm.The screws used are heavy duty, 75mm tek screws.

Following the installation of the roof trusses, the nets will remain in position for the duration of the entire roof construction.The nets are often used in conjunction with perimeter scaffolding or roof edge guard rails.Information from the Safety Nets NZ web site prohibits the nets from being directly attached to either scaffolds or guard rails.

On the average house, the installation of the safety nets takes approximately one to one and a half hours. The cost for a week’s hire is between $600 and $700 NZ.

Conclusion

Worksafe NZ now deems the use of safety nets as a reasonably practicable safety control and is now enforcing the use of these nets on housing construction sites.Further information on technical specifications, installation or contacts can be found on the Safety Nets NZ web sitewww.safetynetsnz.co.nz