When people are working near an exposed edge, the first question shouldn’t be which handrail system to buy. It should be how the risk of a fall is going to be eliminated or prevented.
That sounds obvious, but on busy projects edge protection can easily become something that is dealt with relatively late. The concrete is poured, the structure is in place, access is suddenly required and the site team needs to work out where the posts are going to go.
At NON-DRILL, we think that conversation should start earlier.
Edge protection is not simply a piece of equipment. It is part of the way the work is engineered and delivered safely. The barrier matters, but so do the connection to the structure, the installation method, the loads, the inspections and the conditions in which the system will actually be used.
Or, as we like to put it: Compliance is a system, not a sticker. That distinction becomes particularly important when Australian Standards such as AS/NZS 4994 and AS 1657 are involved.
So, which Standard applies?
For temporary edge-protection equipment within its scope, the key Australian and New Zealand standards framework is the AS/NZS 4994 series.
AS/NZS 4994.1:2023 sets the general requirements for temporary edge-protection equipment used on roofs with slopes not greater than 35 degrees to the horizontal and at other exposed edges prior to permanent walling. Other parts of the series deal with installation and dismantling for roof edges, other exposed edges and perimeter protection screens.
AS 1657:2018 is different. It covers fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders used to provide safe access for activities such as operation, inspection, maintenance and servicing. It also applies to certain permanent roof-access arrangements.
That means it is too simplistic to say that AS/NZS 4994 is the “temporary handrail standard” and AS 1657 is the “permanent handrail standard”.
The real question is what is being designed, why it is needed and how it is going to be used.
And, importantly, an Australian Standard is not the entire compliance picture. Depending on the project, the team may also need to consider the relevant WHS legislation, project specifications, contractual requirements, engineering requirements and the requirements of a Principal or other authority.
The Standard is part of the answer. It is not always the whole answer.
Start with the risk, not the equipment
The Safe Work Australia framework for managing falls follows the hierarchy of controls. In practical terms, that means first asking whether the need to expose someone to the fall risk can be eliminated. If it cannot, the project should consider how the fall can be prevented before relying on lower-order controls.
This is why physical fall-prevention measures such as guardrails and edge-protection systems are so important.
A harness may be absolutely appropriate in the right circumstances, but a harness and a physical barrier do different jobs. A harness manages the risk to an individual worker if exposure to the edge cannot otherwise be prevented. A physical barrier can prevent someone reaching or falling through that edge in the first place.
For a Project Engineer or Temporary Works Coordinator, that means the edge-protection methodology deserves to be considered as part of the work planning, rather than as an accessory that gets ordered at the end.
The handrail is only part of the system
One of the questions we hear in this industry is:
“Is the handrail compliant?”
It is a perfectly reasonable question, but it is not quite the right one. A handrail or post can be designed and tested to a particular requirement, but what ultimately matters on a project is the complete installed arrangement.
How is the system connected to the structure? What loads are being transferred through that connection? What is the post spacing? What is the condition and geometry of the structure? How will the system be installed and removed? What happens if it is altered, struck or exposed to changing site conditions?
Those questions are not peripheral to compliance. They are part of it. That is what we mean when we say compliance is a system, not a sticker.
A compliant component does not automatically create a compliant methodology simply because it has been installed somewhere near an edge.
The connection deserves more attention
This is the part of the conversation NON-DRILL is particularly interested in. The connection between the edge-protection system and the structure is often treated as an installation detail. We think it should be treated as an engineering decision.
On a concrete or precast project, there may be several ways to make that connection. Depending on the structure and project-specific engineering, it may be possible to work with suitable lifting anchors, ferrules, shear studs, EdgePro or hairpin anchors, or another planned connection. Alternatively, a project may use a post-installed fixing.
The point is not that one connection method is always right and another is always wrong. The point is that the decision should be made deliberately.
If the project is going to require temporary edge protection, why wait until the permanent structure is complete before asking how the posts will connect to it? By then, the reinforcement has been fixed, the concrete may have been poured, the precast elements may already have been manufactured and the shop drawings signed off. The options have narrowed.
What changes when edge protection is considered earlier?
When the conversation happens during design, precast detailing, constructability or temporary-works planning, the project has more choices.
The team can identify where edge protection will be required and how long it will remain in place. It can look at the structure and determine what suitable connection points may already exist. Where appropriate, it can consider whether a connection should be incorporated into the design.
That gives the engineer an opportunity to coordinate the edge-protection methodology with reinforcement, precast detailing, lifting requirements, construction sequence and access before the system is urgently needed on site.
It also changes the question.
Instead of: “Where can we drill the posts?”
the project can ask: “What is the best way to connect the edge protection to this structure?”
That is a much better engineering conversation.
Where NON-DRILL fits
NON-DRILL provides engineered edge-protection connection options designed around the use of suitable existing or planned structural connection points rather than automatically introducing new post-pour drilled fixings.
That does not mean every existing lifting anchor or ferrule can suddenly become an edge-protection connection. Its type, capacity, location, condition, geometry and the loads being applied all matter. So does its relationship to the complete edge-protection system.
Sometimes an existing connection may be appropriate. Sometimes a connection can be planned during design. Sometimes another method will be the better answer. NON-DRILL does not replace project-specific engineering, and using a NON-DRILL component does not magically make a project compliant. What it does is give engineers and construction teams another option to consider before drilling becomes the default simply because the decision was left until the end.
What about the 35-degree roof limit?
AS/NZS 4994.1 includes roof applications with slopes not greater than 35 degrees to the horizontal within its scope. That does not mean a steeper roof can simply use the same arrangement and carry on regardless. Applications outside the scope of the Standard need appropriate project-specific consideration.
It is a small detail, but it illustrates a much bigger point: knowing the number of the Standard is not the same as understanding how it applies. The conditions matter.
What about falling objects?
Edge protection is primarily about managing the risk of people falling from an exposed edge, but people are not the only thing that can fall.
Tools, materials and debris may require additional controls such as toe boards, mesh or infill, exclusion zones or another appropriate project-specific measure. Again, the right approach comes from looking at the whole risk rather than assuming the handrail solves everything that can happen at an edge.
Inspection doesn't finish when the system is installed
An edge-protection system also has to remain suitable for the period in which the project relies on it.
Inspection requirements will vary depending on the application, system and jurisdiction. For roof-edge protection, for example, SafeWork NSW guidance recommends inspection after installation and before access, periodically while the system remains in use, and after events such as adverse weather.
Other applications may require a different regime.
The important principle is that installation is not the end of the process. If the system is moved, modified, struck or affected by changing site conditions, the project needs to consider whether it remains suitable.
The better question for project teams. For us, the most useful shift is quite simple.
Don't start with: “Which handrail do we need?”
Start with: “What is the risk, what does the complete edge-protection system need to do, and how should it connect to this structure?”
That conversation naturally brings together the Standard, the structure, the connection, the installation method, the construction sequence and the evidence the project needs. And if that conversation happens early enough, the team may have considerably more options available to it.
Design the control, not just the barrier
Good edge protection is not simply about putting rails around an exposed edge. It is about designing a control that works with the structure, the people, the construction sequence and the conditions on the project.
At NON-DRILL, we believe the connection is an important part of that thinking. Because before someone reaches for a drill, it is worth asking whether the project already has, or could have designed, a better place to connect.
Discuss your project
If you are planning temporary edge protection for a bridge, precast, civil or concrete project, talk to NON-DRILL while the connection methodology can still be influenced.
Send us the project stage, structure type and details of any existing or proposed connections, and we can help identify the next technical conversation.