A drill hole can take less than a minute. Under TfNSW B80, the decision behind it may carry far more weight.
Clause 9.2 of Transport for NSW QA Specification TS 01733.1 (B80) makes the position clear: temporary works that would damage permanent works, including drill holes, inserts and fixtures, are not allowable without the Principal’s approval.
For bridge, civil and precast teams, the message is not simply “do not drill”. It is to decide how temporary edge protection will connect before the permanent concrete leaves the project with fewer, slower and more expensive options.
The short answer
TfNSW B80 does not impose an absolute ban on every form of drilling. It does, however, set a clear default: temporary works that would damage permanent works are “not allowable except with approval of the Principal”.
That is materially stronger than saying approval might be needed. Where drilling or another fixing method would damage permanent bridge concrete, the method is an exception that must be justified—not a routine site decision.
If drilling is proposed, the project must move beyond “this is how we usually install it”. The approval pathway places the burden on the project to explain why a non-damaging method is not feasible.
Clause 9.2 also requires the request to address how reinforcement, stressing strands, conduits and structural integrity will be protected; identify the locations, sizes and depths of the proposed holes or fixings; and explain how the work will be rectified.
The practical lesson is simple, but important:
Plan the Edge Protection connection before the pour—not after the programme has removed the best options.
NON-DRILL’s position: temporary works should protect people without creating avoidable damage, rework or uncertainty in the permanent asset.
What B80 actually says - and why it changes the default
The current reference is Transport for NSW QA Specification TS 01733.1 (B80), Concrete Work for Bridges, Edition 8 / Revision 0, effective 30 April 2025. Some project teams still call it “RMS B80”. Whatever name is used on site, the operative requirement for this discussion sits in Clause 9.2, Repairs to Concrete Surfaces.
Its location in the repairs clause is revealing. The specification is not only concerned with whether a fixing holds during construction. It is also concerned with what temporary works leave behind in the permanent bridge asset.
B80 does not prescribe NON-DRILL, and it does not turn one product into a compliance certificate. What it does is change the starting point for any temporary-works method that could damage finished concrete.
For Edge Protection, that matters because connection decisions are often made too late - after the structure has already dictated the available choices. By then, the concrete has been poured. The reinforcement, stressing strands and conduits are fixed inside it. The precast members may already be delivered or erected. The programme requires access. And the site team needs Edge Protection now, not after another round of redesign.
In that moment, drilling can look like the obvious solution because it is visible, familiar and apparently immediate. But under B80, the hole is only the beginning of the decision. The project must also deal with justification, location, structural interfaces and rectification.
The hidden work behind a late drilling decision
B80 expressly requires the approval request to deal with feasibility of alternatives, embedded elements, structural integrity, fixing details and rectification. Depending on the project, the wider work may also include engineering review, scanning or as-built verification, access coordination, inspection, repair records and handover evidence.
Concrete drilling can also create a crystalline-silica processing task. That risk must be assessed and controlled under the project’s work health and safety arrangements; it does not disappear because the hole is for a temporary system.
None of this makes drilling inherently wrong. On some projects, a properly engineered and approved drilled fixing may be the right answer.
But “technically possible” is not the same as “best default”. A familiar fixing can still be the most administratively expensive option once approval, verification, controls, patching and records are counted.
Where a suitable existing connection can be used—or an appropriate connection can be incorporated before the pour—the project may remove the damaging activity and much of the work that follows it.
Thought-leadership principle: the cleanest hole is often the one the project never needs to make.
The better question: can the connection be engineered earlier?
The opportunity is not simply to replace one post or bracket with another.
It is to make one straightforward connection decision at the right time, while the project still has choices.
NON-DRILL systems can connect to suitable existing or planned lifting anchors, ferrules, shear studs and other engineered connection arrangements. In many cases, the starting point is simply the structure details and the connection points already available.
That creates two practical pathways. Both start simply: share the structure and connection details already available, and NON-DRILL can help identify the best-fit arrangement.
1. Use a suitable existing connection
On many structures, a lifting anchor, ferrule or other embedded connection already exists. Where engineering confirms it is appropriate, that point may form part of the temporary Edge Protection solution without adding a new drilled post fixing.
“Existing” does not mean “automatically suitable”, but checking the connection does not need to become a project within the project. NON-DRILL can help the team identify the information needed and confirm the appropriate arrangement.
Usually, that means confirming the connection type and capacity, where it sits, and how the proposed Edge Protection will load it.
The principle is reuse by design, not reuse by assumption.
2. Design the connection into the project
The second pathway begins before manufacture or pouring, when the project still has genuine design freedom. During precast detailing, temporary-works planning or constructability review, a suitable ferrule, lifting anchor or other connection point can be shown in the normal drawings and coordinated with the concrete works.
It is a small decision made early that can prevent a much larger approval, drilling and rectification exercise later. That is not simply a “no drilling” detail. It is temporary works integrated with permanent works—and that is the more mature engineering conversation.
LATE FIXING VS DESIGN-LED FIXING
Late, post-pour response
Permanent concrete is already complete
The site searches for somewhere to fix posts
Drilling, scanning and strike controls are developed
A damaging method must enter the B80 approval pathway
Holes may require inspection, rectification and handover records
Design-led NON-DRILL response
The Edge Protection interface is reviewed while design choices remain
Suitable existing or planned connection points are identified and verified
Connections are coordinated with reinforcement, shop drawings and sequence
The non-damaging methodology can be reviewed before installation pressure
Installation and inspection follow one documented connection strategy
The choice is not “a drilled product versus a non-drilled product”. It is a late, reactive interface versus one that has been deliberately planned, checked and documented. A design-led approach gives the project team the chance to resolve the connection while drawings, reinforcement and construction sequence can still be influenced.
Why this matters beyond “no holes”
A drill-free Edge Protection installation is useful. The greater value is the chain of project work that may be avoided when the connection strategy is settled early.
Where the design and project conditions allow it, early planning can help the project:
reduce post-pour drilling into finished bridge or precast concrete;
reduce the opportunity for avoidable contact with reinforcement, stressing strands or embedded services;
reduce patching, repair, visual mismatch and close-out work on the permanent asset;
remove or reduce a silica-generating drilling task associated with installing the Edge Protection;
coordinate temporary works with precast detailing, access requirements and the construction sequence;
give designers, temporary-works teams, installers and reviewers one clearer installation and inspection methodology; and
surface approval, geometry or capacity issues while the project still has time to solve them properly.
These are not automatic outcomes, and they depend on project-specific design and verification.
The deeper value is coordination: fewer late interfaces, fewer assumptions and a clearer line from design intent to installation, inspection and handover.
Compliance is a system, not a sticker. It is created by the connection, design, approvals, installation, inspection and evidence working together.
WHEN SHOULD EDGE PROTECTION CONNECTIONS BE REVIEWED?
The strongest opportunity is usually before the concrete is poured. This does not require a new workstream; it requires one useful question at the design and constructability reviews the project is already holding.
Concept and tender
Flag where temporary Edge Protection is likely to be required and whether drilling into the finished concrete is something the team would prefer to avoid.
Constructability and temporary-works planning
Share the proposed Edge Protection locations and any existing or planned connection details with NON-DRILL. From there, the team can identify the simplest suitable pathway while the answer is still easy to influence.
This is the stage to ask: Are we designing how the Edge Protection will connect, or merely planning to solve it on site later?
Precast detailing and shop drawings
Where a planned connection is the best option, show its agreed type and location in the normal precast or shop drawings. This is usually a modest addition to information the team is already producing.
Pre-pour and pre-start
Confirm that the installed connection points match the agreed drawing and that the NON-DRILL components and installation information are ready for site.
In practical terms: identify the connection, agree the arrangement and install to the documented method. Simple does not mean casual; it means the thinking has been done before the crew reaches the edge.
What if the concrete has already been poured? It may not be too late to avoid a new drilled fixing. Send NON-DRILL the drawings or connection details you already have. Existing lifting anchors, ferrules or other engineered connection points may provide a direct pathway without new drilled post fixings.
NON-DRILL can help identify what is usable and what needs confirming, then develop the arrangement around the available connection and project conditions.
The answer may be a straightforward standard arrangement, a small project-specific adaptation, or confirmation that another method is needed. The important point is to check before assuming drilling is the only option.
FROM PRINCIPLE TO PRACTICE: TWO PROJECT EXAMPLES
Precast Edge Protection at Eastern Creek
On an Eastern Creek project, preset ferrules cast into precast panels provided the connection points for a customised NON-DRILL Edge Protection system. The finished panels did not require new drilled post fixings for that installation.
The lesson is not that one ferrule detail should be copied from project to project. The lesson is that the precast detail and the Edge Protection methodology were considered as one constructability problem—before the panels reached site.
That design habit is transferable to other precast structures, even though the engineering detail will always be project-specific.
Embedded connections at Evans Road
At Evans Road, a project-specific face-mounted arrangement used embedded M16 ferrules around a deep pit. The connection strategy allowed temporary Edge Protection to be coordinated with the concrete works and site access without adding new drilled post fixings to the newly poured concrete. Again, this is evidence of a principle, not a universal detail. The connection, loading, layout, edge distances, substrate and approvals must be assessed for each project.
Both projects demonstrate the same point: when the Edge Protection interface is designed early, the project can solve safety and constructability without treating damage to the permanent work as inevitable. NON-DRILL’s contribution is not merely a bracket. It is the practical connection knowledge needed to turn that principle into an installable, inspectable project-specific system.
Compliance is a system, not a sticker
Temporary and permanent barrier systems are different design conversations and should not be treated as interchangeable. The AS/NZS 4994 series provides the relevant standards context for temporary Edge Protection equipment. AS 1657:2018 addresses fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders associated with ongoing access.
Those standards matter, but compliance is not created by naming a standard or buying a component with the right label.
A NON-DRILL configuration can form part of a compliant temporary Edge Protection methodology when it is correctly selected, installed and inspected for the project. The product alone cannot approve the substrate, verify an anchor, resolve an unsuitable layout or sign off an installation.
The usual project controls, such as temporary-works review, SWMS, installation information and inspection, still apply. NON-DRILL helps make the connection method clear so those controls are easier to complete and follow.
That is why NON-DRILL starts with three practical facts: the structure, the available connection and where the Edge Protection must go.
B80 AND TEMPORARY EDGE PROTECTION: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does TfNSW B80 ban drilling into bridge concrete?
Not absolutely. Clause 9.2 says temporary works that would damage permanent works, including drill holes, inserts and fixtures, are not allowable except with the Principal’s approval. An approval request must justify why other methods are not feasible and address avoidance of embedded elements and structural impacts, fixing details and rectification.
Why does B80 matter when selecting temporary Edge Protection?
Because the connection method can affect the permanent bridge asset. B80 makes that interface an engineering and approval matter, not merely an installation preference. Considering the fixing method earlier creates more opportunity to use a suitable existing connection or design one into the works before drilling becomes the apparent default.
Can temporary Edge Protection use existing lifting anchors?
Potentially, yes. The anchor or connection point must be assessed for its type, capacity, location, condition, geometry, imposed loads and relationship to the complete Edge Protection system. An existing anchor is an opportunity to investigate—not evidence of suitability by itself.
Can Edge Protection connections be designed into precast concrete?
In appropriate applications, yes. Ferrules, lifting anchors or other engineered connection points can be coordinated during precast and temporary-works design so the Edge Protection methodology is resolved before manufacture or pouring. The design must account for the structure, the connection, the temporary loads, tolerances, installation sequence and any project approval requirements.
Does NON-DRILL eliminate all drilling on a project?
No. NON-DRILL is intended to avoid new drilled post fixings for the relevant Edge Protection installation where a suitable existing or planned connection solution is available. Other construction activities may still involve drilling, and some Edge Protection applications may require a different engineered approach.
Does NON-DRILL automatically satisfy B80 or AS/NZS 4994?
No. NON-DRILL is a connection and Edge Protection system. Compliance belongs to the complete project methodology, including design, substrate and connection verification, approvals, installation, inspection and records.
When should the project team involve NON-DRILL?
Ideally during concept design, tender, constructability review, precast detailing or temporary-works planning—while the connection strategy can still influence the permanent works. If the concrete has already been poured, involve NON-DRILL before drilling is locked in. Existing engineered connection points may still create another pathway.
Design the Edge Protection before the edge becomes a problem
Edge Protection is temporary. The consequences of how it connects to a bridge or precast element may not be. B80 Clause 9.2 is a useful prompt for better practice: protect the permanent asset, investigate non-damaging methods and plan the temporary-works interface before the project runs out of choices.
The first question should not be: “Where can we drill the posts?”
It should be: “How do we create a safe, engineered Edge Protection connection without avoidable damage to the permanent works?”
That is where NON-DRILL begins—and where better temporary-works planning begins too.
Technical references
Transport for NSW QA Specification TS 01733.1 (B80), Concrete Work for Bridges, Ed 8 / Rev 0, Clause 9.2 — Repairs to Concrete Surfaces; AS/NZS 4994 series — Temporary Edge Protection; AS 1657:2018 — Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders. Always confirm the controlled project documents and project-specific requirements.