Standards Australia has introduced AS 5532:2025 – ‘Manufacturing requirements for single-point anchor device used for harness-based work at height’. This new edition is intended to supersede AS/NZS 5532:2013, and a draft is available for public comment.

The standard specifies manufacturing performance requirements, test methods, marking and product instruction requirements for single-point anchor devices for industrial fall-protection systems. It covers anchor devices for use with equipment that conforms to the AS(AS/NZS) 1891 series and the AS/NZS 4488 series.

KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AS/NZ 5532:2013 AND AS 5532:2025

The key changes to this edition of the standard, as defined by Standards Australia, include:

• clarified anchor design requirements;
• modified test apparatus requirements, general test requirements, and test procedures;
• clarified instructions and marking requirements;
• Appendix A (formerly “Additional usage recommendations”) is now “Additional design recommendations for anchors”;
• Removal of Appendix B (“Additional design recommendations”).

Those who wish to review the draft and provide feedback to Standards Australia, either individually or on behalf of their Member Company, can do so until 1st May 2025.  

To review the document, you must first register an account with Standards Australia. The draft can be accessed for comment using the link below:

https://comment.standards.org.au/Drafts/0a083b3d-40a0-4d1f-8db6-62baaa60e60e

A demolition company has been convicted and fined a total of $40,000 after a worker fell through a skylight and fractured his spine at a residential site in Mornington.

Source: WorkSafe Victoria

City Way Demolition Pty Ltd was sentenced ex parte in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Monday after being found guilty of failing to ensure the workplace was safe and without risks to health, and failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide WorkSafe with required information and documents.

The company was also ordered to pay $7,135 in costs.

The court heard that in October 2022, three City Way workers commenced demolition works at the single storey dwelling, including the manual removal of roof tiles by hand.

Witnesses observed at least two people working on the roof, which was more than two metres in height, with no fall protection in place.

During the works, one of the workers fell through a fibreglass sheet on the garage roof, sustaining vertebrae fractures that have left him unable to return to work.

A WorkSafe investigation found it was reasonably practicable for City Way to have reduced or eliminated health and safety risks by using a passive fall prevention device, a work positioning system, or a fall arrest system.

The court heard that following the incident, the company failed to comply with a WorkSafe notice requesting information and documents by the end of March 2023.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said working at height was too well-known a risk for these types of incidents to continue occurring.

“Despite there being clear regulations, extensive guidance, and far too many examples of preventable injuries and deaths, the company chose to bypass fall safety measures altogether,” Mr Jenkin said.

“The blatant disregard for safety – by not having any fall protection in place and then refusing to cooperate with WorkSafe’s investigation – is very disappointing.”

To prevent falls from height employers should implement the highest possible measures from the five levels in the hierarchy of controls:

• Level 1 Eliminate the risk by, where practicable, doing all or some of the work on the ground or from a solid construction.
• Level 2 Use a passive fall prevention device such as scaffolds, perimeter screens, guardrails, safety mesh or elevating work platforms.
• Level 3 Use a positioning system, such as a travel-restraint system, to ensure employees work within a safe area.
• Level 4 Use a fall arrest system, such as a harness, catch platform or safety nets, to limit the risk of injuries in the event of a fall.
• Level 5 Use a fixed or portable ladder, or implement administrative controls.