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Safety Netting

What Do Safety Nets Do?

Safety nets serve as protective systems designed to prevent or minimize harm. They are used in different settings for different purposes, but their primary function is to provide a barrier or cushion to reduce the impact of accidents or falls. G&M primarily supply safety nets for contructin sites. They are typically placed below elevated work areas, such as scaffolding or high-rise buildings, to catch workers or objects in case of a fall. This helps prevent injuries and fatalities.

Safety nets limit fall distance and therefore the consequences of a fall. Consequently, when fallen onto, safety nets stretch to absorb the energy generated in a fall. This stretching helps to reduce the impact forces on the body. Therefore, the chances of injury are greatly reduced.

Who can rig a safety net?

Only qualified persons are permitted to rig a safety net and sign if off as safe to work over.

FASET is the UK’s temporary safety systems trade and training body who administers industry accepted CSCS training for safety netting installation.

As a FASET accredited training centre, G&M Netting offers a range of safety netting courses for riggers and site managers. Visit our training page for more information.

What does a safety net do?

The purpose of a safety net is to arrest falls by absorbing the kinetic energy from the person falling. Safety nets minimise the distance and consequence of the fall. Often, they act in conjunction with other temporary safety systems such as edge protection and stair tower access to create a complete safe system of works for people working at height.

Where is a safety net used?

Primarily, safety nets are used in the construction and building maintenance industries to provide safety for persons who work at height e.g., installers or maintainers of roofs.

Sometimes, safety netting is used on demolition sites and other specialist projects where is it used as containment netting and debris retention.

Safety netting is also widely used in sports facilities to prevent balls from causing damage to people and property.

Why use safety netting?

When persons are working at height in high fall risk areas, a collective form of protection is required.

Safety nets are selected when the use of Personal Fall Protective Equipment (PFPE) such as fall restraint and fall arrest are not feasible as the use of such equipment could create greater risk of slips, trips, and falls.

How high can a person fall into a safety net?

Regulation 6 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 deals with the avoidance of risks from working at height. In summary the regulation requires that where falls cannot be prevented, measures are put in place to minimise the distance and consequence of a fall. In practice this means that the fall distance into a safety net must be as little as is reasonably practicable which will usually be the underside of the structure being worked on, as the greater the fall distance into a net the greater the likelihood of injury.

BS EN 1263-2: 2014 details the maximum permissible fall height into a safety net is 6m from the work position. This means that the maximum nominal fall height from the centre of gravity of a person is 7m.

It should be noted that for safety nets less than 35m2 in total area, or a side length less than 5m the maximum height an operative is allowed to work above a net is 2m as there is insufficient fabric area to absorb the energy of falls from a greater height.

What is FASET?

FASET (Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training) is the leading trade association and training body for the safety net rigging and temporary safety systems industry. FASET works together with its members to provide guidance and training to promote safer ways of working. The guidance provides good practices for contractors and provides understanding of the industry for clients. Members of FASET have undergone a rigorous application process and annual audit to ensure quality and commitment to safety and best standards are maintained. This audit process is now accredited by SSiP and is therefore mutually recognised with other health and safety assessment schemes.

As one of the UK leading suppliers of fall arrest systems G&M Safety Netting and G&M Safe Deck are full members of FASET and our directors serve on the board and have been active on various sub-committees over the years.

What are the British & European Standards for Safety Netting?

All the safety nets that we supply and install are fully compliant with all the relevant European and British Standards. We conduct regular full traceable inspection and logging of all our safety net systems.

The British Standards that govern safety netting are as follows:

BS EN 1263-1:2014 Temporary works equipment. Safety nets. Safety requirements, test methods. This European Standard applies to safety nets and their accessories for use in construction and maintenance work to manufacture safety nets that arrest falls from height. It specifies safety requirements and test methods and is based on the performance characteristics of polypropylene and polyamide fibres.

BS EN 1263-2:2014 Temporary works equipment. Safety nets. Safety requirements for the positioning limits.  This European Standard specifies safety requirements for the positioning of safety nets in accordance with the manufacturer’s instruction manual and with the product specifications and for the testing of system S, system T, system U and system V safety nets in accordance with EN 1263‑1.

BS 8411:2007 Code of practice for safety nets on construction sites and other works. Provides essential guidance and recommendations on the safe use, erection and effective maintenance of safety nets on construction sites and other works where there is risk of a fall.  It is applicable generally to safety nets that conform to BS EN 1263-1 (Safety nets.  Safety requirements.  Test Methods’) and that are erected within the positioning limits given in BS EN 1263-2 (‘Safety nets.  Safety requirements for positioning limits’).  However, as these standards are very specific, this British Standard also gives advice on how to assess the reliability of safety nets outside these limits. This British standard is considered as the ‘Good Practice Guide’ for safety net installation in the UK.

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