Documentation in fall protection is not a secondary consideration. It’s the evidence that demonstrates a principal contractor’s compliance with their CDM 2015 obligations in relation to work at height — and it’s what protects the principal contractor if a fall occurs and the adequacy of the site’s safety management is subsequently investigated.
A safety netting installation that meets every technical requirement of BS EN 1263-1 and FASET standards but produces no documentation provides no protection to the principal contractor beyond the physical protection of the net itself. If questions arise — in an HSE investigation, in a civil claim, or in a dispute about whether adequate fall protection was in place at a particular point in the programme — the documentation is what the principal contractor relies on to demonstrate that the right measures were in place at the right time.
Red Safety Netting’s documentation framework is designed around the principal contractor’s CDM compliance requirements — producing the records that demonstrate competent installation, correct specification, and continuous maintenance of fall protection throughout the programme.
What FASET Installation Certificates Cover
FASET accreditation — the Construction Industry Training Board-supported standard for safety netting contractors — requires that every net installation is documented with a certificate that records the key installation parameters. That certificate covers the net classification installed, the anchorage system used, the clearance geometry beneath the net, the date of installation, and the identity of the installing operative.
Those aren’t administrative details. They’re the technical parameters that determine whether the installation will perform correctly in a fall. A net of the wrong classification may not absorb the fall energy generated by a person falling onto it from the height available. An anchorage system that isn’t appropriate for the structure it’s fixed to may fail under fall loading. Insufficient clearance beneath the net may mean that a falling person strikes the structure below before the net has fully deflected. The FASET installation certificate provides the principal contractor with documented evidence that each of these parameters was assessed and correctly specified at the point of installation.
Ongoing Inspection Records
A safety net doesn’t remain in a known condition simply because it was correctly installed. On a live construction site, nets can be damaged by falling materials, affected by UV degradation over extended periods, or inadvertently disturbed by other trades working in the area. A net that was correctly installed but has subsequently been damaged may not perform correctly in a fall — and without inspection records, the principal contractor has no evidence of the net’s condition at the time a fall occurred.
Red Safety Netting maintains inspection records for every net installation throughout its operational life on site. Where nets are inspected and found to be in satisfactory condition, that’s recorded. Where damage is identified, the record shows what was found, what action was taken, and when the net was returned to service. That inspection trail gives the principal contractor a continuous record of the net’s condition throughout the programme — evidence that the fall protection was not just installed correctly but maintained correctly throughout.
Post-Fall Inspection Documentation
If a fall occurs onto a safety net, the net must be taken out of service immediately and inspected before it’s returned to use. A net that has arrested a fall may have sustained damage to the net structure, the border rope, or the anchorage connections that isn’t immediately visible but which compromises its ability to arrest a subsequent fall. The post-fall inspection determines whether the net can be returned to service or needs to be replaced.
The documentation of a post-fall inspection is particularly important for the principal contractor. It provides evidence that the net was assessed by a competent person following the fall event, that the decision to return the net to service or replace it was made on the basis of a technical inspection, and that the fall protection was restored to an appropriate standard before work resumed. That evidence is directly relevant to the principal contractor’s CDM compliance position following a fall event.
Documentation as Part of the Pre-Qualification Record
For developers and principal contractors who work with Red Safety Netting across multiple projects, the documentation framework is consistent in format and standard across every installation. Pre-qualification documentation — FASET accreditation certificates, CSCS card records for operatives, IPAF certification for MEWP operation — is maintained and available on request, in a format that meets the requirements of the major developers and principal contractors operating in the residential and commercial construction sectors.
That consistency of documentation standard across projects means that principal contractors who have pre-qualified Red Safety Netting on one project have a reduced administrative burden on subsequent projects — the documentation framework is already established and the standard already verified.
To request installation documentation or discuss fall protection requirements for your next project, contact Red Safety Netting today.
