What Happens If Your Building Fails a Height Safety Audit?

A failed height safety audit isn't just a line item on a report. Once an anchor point, static line, or walkway is flagged as non-compliant, it changes what your building is legally allowed to do until it's fixed. Here's what actually happens, and what building managers need to have in place.

What happens the moment a system fails

A failed anchor or fall-protection system has to be decommissioned and taken out of service immediately. Any maintenance, cleaning, or trade work that was relying on that anchor can no longer go ahead using it, and whoever manages the building has to document the interim controls put in place while the fix is organised. In practice, this often means a facade clean, a window clean, or a repair job gets paused or rescheduled until a compliant system is back in place.

The legal exposure building owners face

A documented and unaddressed safety defect is treated seriously under work health and safety law. Regulators can issue improvement or prohibition notices, and in more serious cases pursue prosecution, if a building owner hasn't shown that remediation is underway. There's also civil exposure: if someone were injured after a known defect wasn't fixed, the audit report itself becomes evidence of what the owner knew and when. For strata-titled buildings, this liability can extend to the owners corporation and, in some cases, individual committee members.

What it means for your insurance

Many commercial insurers now treat current height safety compliance as a condition of cover, not just a recommendation. If a system has failed and hasn't been fixed, or is only disclosed after something goes wrong, insurers have grounds to reduce or decline a claim on the basis that the risk was known and unmanaged. Some policies exclude non-compliant equipment from cover outright. Keeping height safety certification current isn't just a safety matter, it's part of keeping your cover valid.

What remediation involves

Fixing a failed system is engineering work, not paperwork. Depending on what caused the failure, remediation might mean relocating an anchor to get proper edge distance, reinstalling with a different anchor type suited to the substrate, or redesigning the system for that section of the building. Whatever the fix, every remediated anchor needs to be proof load tested again before it goes back into service, and that testing needs to be documented. This paper trail, from the original failure through to remediation and verification, is what shows a building owner acted on the risk rather than sitting on it.

How to avoid ending up here

Most failed audits come down to systems that were installed years ago and haven't kept pace with how the building is actually being used, or ones that were never inspected on a proper cycle. Regular recertification catches most issues well before they become a failed audit and a scramble to fix things. If your building's height safety systems haven't been inspected recently, that's the cheaper problem to have.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long can a building operate with a failed height safety system?

It shouldn't operate using that system at all. A failed anchor or system must be taken out of service immediately, and any work relying on it needs another method or has to wait until it's fixed.

Who is responsible for fixing a failed height safety system?

Responsibility sits with the building owner or, for strata buildings, the owners corporation, as the party in control of the building and its plant. They engage a height safety specialist to carry out remediation and recertification.

Does a failed audit affect building insurance immediately?

Not immediately, but it creates risk. If the defect isn't remediated and is later linked to a claim, insurers can use the documented failure as grounds to reduce or decline cover.

How often should height safety systems be audited to avoid this?

Most systems need recertification annually, though this can vary by system type and usage. Regular auditing is what catches wear and non-compliance before it becomes a failed system.