It's not often we talk about our successes when we compare ourselves to the U.K. or Australia when talking about workplace safety performance; however, this is interesting to do when it comes to looking at falls from height.

In nearly every country, falling from height is the number one reason why workers are killed - except for New Zealand!

In the UK in 2024/2025, there were 124 fatal workplace accidents; of these, 35 involved falls from height (28%). This number has been consistent over the past five years (UK RIDDOR). In the UK, the construction industry accounted for 107 falls from height, which is 56% of all falls from height.

In Australia in 2023, there were 200 work-related fatalities (SafeWork Australia). 15% of these (29) were falls from height, with a five-year average of 22. The construction industry contributed 45% of these.

How do we compare in New Zealand?

You would expect from these generally better performing regulatory environments that our performance would be worse - but it's the opposite.

Since 2019, there have been 362 work-related fatalities (Worksafe data portal), 20 of these (6% have been falls from height. Of the 20 falls from height, 8 mention a ladder (40%), four mention scaffolding (20%), and three mention a fall from a roof 15%.

How many fatalities over the past five years would the NZ construction industry have had if they performed the same as the U.K. or Australia?

U.K - If in New Zealand, Falls from Height were 28% of the total, then the 20 falls from height would need to increase to 133 falls from height, an extra 113 falls.  Construction fatalities would need to increase to 74 – a rise of 51, or ~10 per year.

Australia - If falls from height in New Zealand accounted for 15% of the total, then the 20 falls from height would need to increase to 61, an extra 41 falls. Construction fatalities would need to be 27 of these – an increase of just over 5 per year.

The big question is why?

In New Zealand, falls from height are far fewer as a leading cause than in other comparable countries. Even though overall and on almost every other measure, we lag behind in workplace fatality rates.

There have potentially been between 40 to 70 fewer construction-related falls from height fatalities compared to Australia and the UK over the past five years. However, you are still twice as likely to die falling from a ladder than when scaffolding is involved.

Since 2012, there has been considerable work to improve falls from height in residential construction, with the introduction of edge protection and scaffolding and MBIE's Best Practice Guidelines for Working at Height in New Zealand, last modified in 2019. I believe that the answer to our statistical anomaly may lie within these changes.

Since 2012, there has been considerable work to improve falls from height in residential construction, with the introduction of edge protection and scaffolding and MBIE's Best Practice Guidelines for Working at Height in New Zealand, last modified in 2019. I believe that the answer to our statistical anomaly may lie within these changes.

BRANZ in 2017 attempted a cost benefit analysis of scaffolding for single story houses in 2017. That report surmised conservatively that there would be 13 fewer fatalities, 401 fewer severe injuries, and 549 fewer other injuries as a result of the introduction of stricter regulations. I would suggest from overseas comparison that far more lives have been saved than the 2017 report suggests. The estimated additional cost per house built in the same report was approximately $5,000 - and productivity benefits associated with scaffolding clawed back 41% of these costs. So yes, still a net increase in cost (almost $3,000 per house), but a major safety improvement.

At the end of the day and over the past five years, we have potentially had 40-70 less funerals to go to as an industry. Fewer families destroyed, friendships ended, and businesses decimated. Good construction companies, builders and the trades know this and it is time to hold the line!

— republished and shared here with permission from Chris Alderson, CEO of Construction Health and Safety New Zealand