> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.whsbrief.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Midnight Tonight: WA's Falls From Height Transition Ends and It Isn't Another Extension
- URL: https://www.whsbrief.com/midnight-tonight-was-falls-from-height-transition-ends-and-no-it-isnt-another-extension/
- Published: 2026-09-29T23:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-29T23:29:59.000Z
- Description: The WA construction falls transition ends today. A Victorian solar installer's harness attached to nothing shows what comes next.
- Author: WHS Brief
- Tags: blog

Today is the last day of the extended transitional period for falls from height on Western Australian construction sites. From tomorrow, 1 October 2026, the falls provisions of the Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 apply in full. Until today, the equivalent regulations under the old Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 still applied, which gave builders one more window to close the gap. That window closes at midnight.

WorkSafe WA has said a six-month Statement of Regulatory Intent will follow, focused on assisting the transition. I've already heard that described as "another six months." It isn't. It's an education posture, not an extension. The law applies in full from tomorrow.

### Why Deadlines Like This Get Missed

Transition periods create a particular kind of risk. When a deadline gets extended once, people quietly assume it will be extended again. The work to update procedures gets pushed to "after the next announcement." Then the announcement is that there is no more time.

The regulation itself isn't what catches most businesses out. What catches them out is discovering that their safe work method statements, inductions and supervisor training still quote the old provisions. They only find out when someone asks.

### Ask Yourself Today

- Do your construction SWMS and fall prevention procedures reference the WHS (General) Regulations 2022, or do they still cite the OSH regulations?
- Have your supervisors been briefed on what changes tomorrow, or are they relying on what they learned under the old Act?
- Does your hierarchy of fall controls start with eliminating work at height, then passive protection like guardrails and edge protection, before it ever reaches harnesses?
- Where harnesses are used, who checks that they are actually attached to a rated anchor point?
- If an inspector visits during the Statement of Regulatory Intent period, can you show them a documented plan for closing any remaining gaps?

### A Harness Attached to Nothing

That fourth question isn't hypothetical. In Victoria this week, Aus Renewable Development Group Pty Ltd was fined $100,000 after pleading guilty to ten charges in the Ringwood Magistrates' Court. Inspectors found unprotected work at heights between 2.6 and 5.6 metres across four rooftop sites in Patterson Lakes, Warrnambool, Point Cook and Vermont over seven months in 2024\. One finding sticks with me more than the fine: a worker wearing a harness that wasn't attached to anything.

That image is the whole problem with falls compliance in one sentence. The PPE was on. The box was ticked. The control didn't exist.

Different state, different Act. But WA builders should read it as a preview of what enforcement looks like once a supportive posture ends. Repeated breaches across multiple sites are exactly what regulators build a prosecution around.

### What to Do Before Midnight

You won't rewrite a full management system today. But you can do three things. Check the regulation references in your falls procedures and flag every one that still cites the old instrument. Brief your site supervisors on the fact that tomorrow is not business as usual. And pick one active job with work at height to walk before the week is out, looking at what is physically there rather than what the paperwork says.

If WorkSafe WA visited one of your sites tomorrow morning, would the procedures in the site office match the law that started that day?