From July 1, 2026, South Australia will lower the High Risk Construction Work fall threshold from three metres to two metres under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Amendment Regulations 2025.
The change aligns South Australia with the national model WHS framework and means any construction work where a person could fall more than two metres will require a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) and appropriate fall protection measures.
The regulatory change responds to a documented safety gap. SafeWork SA and ReturnToWorkSA data show 1,585 workers' compensation claims from construction falls since 2016/17, costing more than $64 million.
Between 2020 and 2022 alone, 149 SA construction workers fell from above two metres. Of those, 68 per cent occurred in the two- to three-metre range, the exact height band now captured by the lower threshold.
SafeWork SA executive director Glenn Farrell said the change will mean employers can no longer erroneously rely on the higher height threshold to avoid providing adequate fall protection, particularly in the residential sector.
Single-storey residential builders in SA will be most affected. Under the previous 3-metre threshold, much of the roof work on single-storey homes sat below the High Risk Construction Work line.
Under the new two-metre threshold, the majority of that work now crosses it.
Buildsafe has just commenced operations in SA with the company's CEO Mike Shipton claiming the expansion is a direct response to the regulatory shift and the state’s growing construction pipeline.
“South Australia’s residential construction sector is one of the fastest-growing in the country, with approvals up more than 10 per cent year-on-year,” Shipton said.
“The July 1 threshold change means every builder working above two metres now needs compliant fall protection on site, and we have opened in SA to make sure that builders have access to the full array of Buildsafe’s installations, designed and delivered by the local team."
Buildsafe, Australia’s largest scaffold and height safety company, operates a fleet of 150 trucks across Australia and employs close to 600 staff.
Meanwhile in Queensland, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) inspectors are set to undertake a work at heights safety campaign.
From July 2026, inspectors will visit construction workplaces across Queensland as part of a statewide compliance campaign focused on work at heights.
Fall from heights on Queensland construction sites are a major cause of workplace deaths and serious injuries.
Between 2020 and 2024, eight workers died from fall-related incidents.