A Heights Ticket Is Half of Compliance
Height safety training gives a worker the competency to plan a job at height, wear and check a harness, and pick a sound anchor. What it does not do on its own is close the second half of the duty: Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice Managing the risk of falls at workplaces states that a PCBU using a fall-arrest system must establish emergency and rescue procedures, and that a worker should not use a fall-arrest system unless someone on site can rescue them.
That gap — a trained crew with no tested way to get a suspended worker down — is what standby rescue and rehearsal training exist to close. The sections below cover what a heights course actually teaches, who needs to sit it, where the two-metre threshold really applies, and what the certificate obliges you to keep doing afterwards. STARC trains from its Stafford facility in Queensland and at customer worksites, for crews in construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, utilities and healthcare.
What the Course Covers, and What It Is Not
A heights course is a competency course, not an induction. Students are assessed to determine their competency both theoretically and practically — the theory assessment consists of multiple choice and short answer questions. The equipment that competency has to cover is the equipment AS/NZS 1891.4 governs: harnesses, lanyards, pole straps, connectors, anchors, fall-arrest devices, horizontal lifelines and rail systems, and their selection, safe use and maintenance.
STARC’s Work Safely at Heights course leads to a Statement of Attainment in RIIWHS204E Work safely at heights. That is a nationally recognised unit, and it is a different thing from a non-accredited in-house certificate. The distinction runs through our own catalogue: Rescue Scenario & Rehearsal Training is a non-accredited, customised solution that issues a Certificate of Attendance and does not lead to a nationally recognised certificate. It is deliberately built that way, because a rehearsal has to match your structure rather than a unit’s assessment conditions.
What a heights course is not: a licence, a site Verification of Competency, a rescue capability, or a substitute for a safe work method statement. It is the baseline the rest of your system is built on.
Who Needs It, From Crew To Supervisor
Anyone who works where a fall is possible, plus the people who plan that work. STARC trains and supports crews in construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, utilities and healthcare, and the planning roles matter as much as the hands-on ones — supervisors sign off method statements and choose anchors they may never clip into themselves.
The scope is wider than most people assume. The model code’s own examples reach well past construction sites: stacking warehouse and retail shelving, roof work, unloading large trucks, accessing silos, and falls at ground level into trenches and service pits. A facilities officer accessing plant on a hospital roof is in the same duty as a rigger on a tower.
For the planning layer, STARC runs Height Safety Supervisor and Height Safety Manager courses, and a Height Safety Equipment Inspector course for the person who ends up responsible for the gear. Where work moves off a roof and into a pit, vault or tank, the parallel obligations sit in confined space training instead, and many crews need both.
Where The Two Metre Rule Actually Bites
Two metres is a trigger for paperwork, not the point at which fall risk begins. Safe Work Australia’s guidance for the construction industry is that work involving a risk of a person falling more than 2 metres is high-risk construction work requiring a safe work method statement prepared before the work starts, developed in consultation with the workers doing it and their representatives. The excavation trigger is separate and unchanged: a SWMS is required for a trench or shaft with a cut into the ground of 1.5 metres or greater.
Below that height, the general duty does not switch off. Hazards still have to be identified, risks assessed and controls implemented — the absence of a SWMS obligation is not the absence of a duty, and a short fall into a trench or a service pit injures people regardless of the number.
The threshold is also jurisdictional, so check the version adopted where you work rather than carrying a figure across a border. SafeWork SA, for instance, lowered South Australia’s threshold from 3 metres to 2 metres from 1 July 2026 to align with the model laws used elsewhere. Safe Work Australia writes the model code but does not enforce it; your state or territory regulator does — and in Queensland, WorkSafe Queensland has had a statewide work-at-heights compliance campaign running since July 2026.
The Rescue Procedure A Ticket Does Not Provide
This is where most height safety programs stop short. The model code does not treat rescue as an afterthought: a PCBU that implements a fall-arrest system has to establish emergency and rescue procedures, and a worker should not be using that system unless someone on site can rescue them. On a tower, a silo or a roof set back from any street access, “call 000 and wait” does not meet that.
A workable plan is specific. Scoping a standby rescue team starts with the structure, the access and egress route, how a casualty would be packaged and how long it would take to get them to the ground. The mundane details are the ones that decide it: whether the person named in the plan is actually on site, whether the lanyard suits the clearance available, and whether anyone can produce a rating for the anchor.
STARC closes that loop two ways. Post Fall Recovery training covers what happens to the casualty once they are down, and rehearsal training exists because the gap between a written plan and a practised one only shows up under load. For high-risk jobs where you would rather not rely on your own crew at all, standby rescue crews attend the work — scoping one starts with a call to 1300 178 272. There is also a longer walk-through of building a rescue plan for heights and confined spaces.
Booking, Delivery And What A Quote Covers
Everything is tailored, so there is no published per-person rate — STARC tailors its training, inspections and audits to be specific to your needs, and the quote is free and obligation-free. The booking process is short:
- Call 1300 178 272 or email info@starc.com.au with the task, the structures involved and how many people need training.
- The team gets in touch to discuss your specific needs and provide an obligation-free quote.
- Choose the delivery location — STARC’s training facility at Unit 4/1a Byth St, Stafford QLD 4053, or your own worksite where your employer confirms suitable facilities exist on site.
- Sit the theory and practical assessment, and receive the Statement of Attainment for the relevant unit.
Onsite delivery is the stronger option when your anchors, access and structures are the thing people actually need to be competent on; otherwise the course runs at Stafford. The office takes enquiries Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST.
What The Certificate Starts, Not Finishes
Height safety training opens a set of ongoing duties rather than discharging them. Fall-arrest harnesses and personal equipment must be inspected by a competent person at least every six months, in addition to the user’s inspection before each use — and that inspection has to produce records, not just a verbal pass.
The technical ground has also moved. Standards Australia published AS/NZS 1891.4:2025 in September 2025, superseding the 2009 edition, covering selection, safe use and maintenance of industrial fall-arrest systems; the training provisions and the inspection and traceability requirements both changed in that edition, so a program written against the old version is due a review.
STARC’s equipment and anchor inspections finish with a report on each item, compliance verification, documentation you can put in front of an auditor, a clear compliant / repair / replace status per item, repair recommendations and a follow-up plan. Where currency is the issue rather than condition, refresher training is the shorter path back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a working at heights ticket satisfy our rescue obligation?
No. The model code treats emergency and rescue procedures as a separate requirement from competency, and expects someone on site to be able to perform the rescue. A crew can hold current heights competency and still have no practised way to retrieve a suspended worker.
What does a heights course cost?
STARC does not publish a rate, because the course and the delivery location are set by what you actually need. Call 1300 178 272 or email info@starc.com.au and the team will provide an obligation-free quote.
Can the training run at our site instead of yours?
Yes. Courses can be delivered at your worksite where your employer confirms suitable facilities exist on site, which also lets people train on the structures and anchors they work from. Otherwise the course runs at Unit 4/1a Byth St, Stafford QLD 4053.
Is Rescue Scenario & Rehearsal Training nationally recognised?
No. It is a non-accredited, customised solution and does not lead to a nationally recognised certificate; attendees receive a Certificate of Attendance. Accredited outcomes come from the unit-coded courses, such as RIIWHS204E Work safely at heights.
How often does heights training need refreshing?
Work Safely at Heights is offered as both an initial and a refresher course, and the interval that matters in practice is the one your site and your regulator’s guidance set. Treat that as the answer, and book a refresher before your currency lapses rather than after.
Will my Statement of Attainment get me onto any site?
Not automatically. A principal contractor can still require a site-specific verification of competency or its own induction before you start work. The Statement of Attainment records the competency; site access is a separate decision made by the controlling employer.