Any work over two metres on a roof is regulated by SafeWork NSW. What height-safety actually looks like (harness anchors, edge protection, scaffold over two storeys), why it is a line on a real quote and not padding, and what you are taking on if a cash job goes wrong on your property.
Short answer: any work over two metres on a roof is regulated by SafeWork NSW. Real height safety means anchors and harnesses, edge protection or scaffold (not a ladder and faith), it is a line on a genuine quote, and skipping it shifts the risk from the operator to your home insurance and your conscience.
The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) requires any employer to control the fall risk for work above two metres. The control hierarchy is: eliminate the height risk where possible, then minimise it with a passive system (scaffold, edge protection), then with a restraint system (a harness that prevents a fall), and only as a last resort a fall arrest system (a harness that catches a fall). On almost every residential roof in the Illawarra, that translates to anchors and harnesses on a single-storey job and proper edge protection or scaffolding on a two-storey or steep-pitch job. The cost lives on the quote because the equipment, set-up labour and engineer-certified anchors are real money. The alternative is a worker, the homeowner, or both ending up in a coroner's report.
Three things you should be able to see from the ground on day one.
Anchor points. On most single-storey jobs, two to four engineered anchor points are screwed through the roof structure into the rafters or trusses, certified for 15 kN minimum, with a written installer record. The roofer wears a full-body harness clipped to a rated rope and lanyard back to those anchors. Cheap operators use a temporary "lifeline" wrapped around a chimney or a ladder. That is not anchored fall arrest; it is theatre.
Edge protection. On a re-roof or any job where workers are at the perimeter for long periods, modular guard-rail edge protection clips to the eaves around the working area. It looks like temporary scaffolding sticking up around the gutter line. On steep-pitch (over 26 degrees) or two-storey jobs, full perimeter scaffold replaces it.
Ladder management. The ladder is tied off at the top, secured at the base, extends at least one metre above the roof line, and is at the correct 4:1 angle. No-one climbs while carrying tools; tools are bucket-hauled or pre-staged. None of this is heroic. All of it is the law.
Round figures for the Illawarra, on a standard family home.
On a $25,000 Colorbond replacement, expect height safety to be $3,000 to $5,000 of the total. That is not padding; that is what compliance actually costs. A quote that does not name a figure in this range is either absorbing it (and will use the saved margin elsewhere, normally on materials) or planning not to do it.
The boring answer is that a properly insured roofer carries the risk: their workers comp covers their workers, and their public liability covers damage to your property. You sign a contract, they do the work, you pay the invoice, you call them if there is a problem in the warranty period.
The not-boring answer is what happens when an uninsured cash-job operator gets hurt on your roof. NSW occupier liability law puts duty of care on the property owner for known hazards. A worker without workers comp can sue the homeowner directly for the medical bills and lost income, and home insurance often does not cover the claim because the work was unlicensed. The cheaper quote becomes the most expensive year of your life.
The control is the Certificate of Currency for workers compensation, addressed to the roofer's company, dated this year, sighted before any worker steps on your roof. Five minutes. Free. The single most important piece of paperwork in the whole transaction.
Ask this, exactly
Hi, before we proceed I would like to see your Safe Work Method Statement for working at heights on our roof, the height safety system you plan to use (anchors, edge protection, or scaffold), and a current Certificate of Currency for workers comp. Can you email those through? Thanks.
What a good reply looks like: a written method statement (Safe Work Method Statement, or SWMS) listing the controls for this specific roof; named anchor or scaffold supplier; a current COI for workers comp emailed alongside. What a stalling reply looks like: 'we have done this for years, mate'; 'the boys know what they are doing'; or any deflection from the question.
Every Ridgeline job carries a documented Safe Work Method Statement specific to that roof, certified anchor installation by our roof plumbers, full perimeter edge protection or scaffold on every job over a single storey, and a current Certificate of Currency for workers compensation and public liability sent before the inspection. The numbers are on the quote in plain English so you can compare like for like with the next quote on the kitchen table. The cheap-on-paper roofer with no safety line is not actually cheaper; it is just hiding the bill, and the worst version of the bill ends up on your home insurance.
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