Adelaide, South Australia – Buildsafe, Australia's largest scaffold and height safety company, has opened South Australian operations from a new base at 1596 Boundary Road, Lewiston, SA 5501, ahead of a significant change to the state's workplace safety regulations.
From 1 July 2026, South Australia will lower the High Risk Construction Work fall threshold from three metres to two metres under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Amendment Regulations 2025.
The change aligns South Australia with the national model WHS framework and means any construction work where a person could fall more than two metres will require a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) and appropriate fall protection measures under the hierarchy of controls.
The regulatory change responds to a documented safety gap.
SafeWork SA and ReturnToWorkSA data show 1,585 workers' compensation claims from construction falls since 2016/17, costing more than $64 million.
Between 2020 and 2022 alone, 149 SA construction workers fell from above two metres.
Of those, 68 per cent occurred in the two- to three-metre range, the exact height band now captured by the lower threshold.
SafeWork SA Executive Director Glenn Farrell has previously stated that the change will mean employers can no longer erroneously rely on the higher height threshold to avoid providing adequate fall protection, particularly in the residential sector.
Single-storey residential builders in SA will be most affected. Under the previous 3-metre threshold, much of the roof work on single-storey homes sat below the High Risk Construction Work line.
Under the new two-metre threshold, the majority of that work now crosses it.
Buildsafe CEO Mike Shipton said the SA expansion is a direct response to the regulatory shift and the state's growing construction pipeline.
"South Australia's residential construction sector is one of the fastest-growing in the country, with approvals up more than 10 per cent year-on-year," Mr Shipton said.
"The 1 July threshold change means every builder working above two metres now needs compliant fall protection on site, and we have opened in SA to make sure that builders have access to the full array of Buildsafe's installations, designed and delivered by its local team. This includes, if and when required, our heavier-duty ones, rated up to 675 kg per bay, compliant with AS/NZS 1576 and backed by a third-party engineer sign-off, along with our height safety systems that we deliver nationally."
Buildsafe operates a fleet of 150 trucks across Australia and employs close to 600 staff.
The company provides scaffolding, height safety, edge protection, fall-arrest and fall-restraint systems, and BuildCam site-monitoring technology to major residential and commercial builders, including volume builders at a national scale.
Mr Shipton said Buildsafe's approach in SA will mirror its national model.
"We do not just drop scaffold on site," Mr Shipton said.
We provide installation, compliance documentation, engineering sign-off, and ongoing service. Builders in SA can contact our local team, and we will scope the job from day one."
Buildsafe is also a Corporate Partner of the HIA SA State of the Nation Luncheon on 26 June 2026 at the Adelaide Convention Centre, where the company will engage directly with SA's residential building sector ahead of the 1 July regulatory deadline.
Builders and PCBUs seeking guidance on the change to the two-metre threshold can visit buildsafe.net.au/services/sa/ or contact SafeWork SA at safework.sa.gov.au.
About Buildsafe
Buildsafe (Buildsafe Australia Pty Ltd) is Australia's largest scaffold and height safety company. Founded in 2001, the company operates nationally from its Gold Coast headquarters with branches across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Buildsafe provides scaffolding, edge protection, fall-arrest and fall-restraint systems, RCD electrical testing, and BuildCam site-monitoring technology to major residential and commercial builders. The company employs close to 600 staff and runs a fleet of 150 trucks.
