Working at heights risk tool · CostMate

Free WorkSafe-aligned working-at-heights risk assessment for NZ builders. Identify control requirements before you start the job.

This is a planning prompt for work at height, not a site assessment. Enter the height, the type of work, and whether edge protection and a harness are actually in place, and it flags the controls worth thinking about before anyone goes up.

How the tool bands the work

It groups the height into three bands — under 1.5m, 1.5m to 3m, and above 3m — with a further prompt where the work goes above 5m on a residential site.

The risk level it returns depends on more than the height. Answer honestly about edge protection and harness and the same height can come back at a different level, because what is already in place is the point of the question.

Work types offered are general construction, roof work, scaffolding, ladder work, and cherry picker or elevated work platform, and the controls it lists change with the type.

What this is for, and what it is not

It is for the two minutes before the ladder goes up — a prompt to notice that nothing is in place yet, and to plan the job rather than improvise it on the roof.

It is not a site-specific risk assessment, a safe work method statement, or a determination of your duties. WorkSafe NZ is the authority on work at height in New Zealand, and their guidance is what to work to.

A tool that takes four inputs cannot see the pitch, the surface, the weather, the anchor points, who else is on site, or what the ground below is. Those are what a real assessment is about, and they belong to whoever is running the job.

What this tool does not do

This is a prompt to plan, not a determination. Work to WorkSafe NZ guidance, and have a competent person assess the specific site before anyone works at height.