On site, "netting" tends to mean one thing, but there are three separate products doing three separate jobs. Fitting the wrong one can be more dangerous than fitting none, because everyone assumes protection is there.
Three separate products
Fall-arrest netting. Designed to catch a person. It is rigged horizontally below the working level. It has to absorb the energy of a falling body, which is why it is fitted with a defined amount of sag, not pulled tight.
Debris netting. Catches falling material, not people. Its mesh is far finer. It is fixed to the outside of the facade scaffold to protect people below.
Facade sheeting. Its real job is dust and wind control, plus visual screening. It is not protective. Leaving debris netting off because sheeting is up is a common and wrong choice.
The four most common mistakes
Over-tensioning the net. A fall-arrest net pulled tight does not decelerate a falling person; it behaves like a hard surface. The sag is part of the design.
Thinning out the fixings. The net itself may be sound, but widen the fixing spacing and the load concentrates at a few points. Failure usually happens at the fixing, not in the net.
Cutting the net to make an opening. A net cut to pass material through keeps tearing from that cut. If an opening is needed, the net is not cut; a separate arrangement is made.
Using it indefinitely. Netting ages in sunlight. A net that has faded, stretches easily by hand or is shedding fibres is no longer doing its job. And a net that has arrested one fall gets replaced: fibre that has taken the load once does not behave the same again.
Netting alone is not enough
Safety netting does not replace the scaffold's own protective components. Main guardrail, intermediate guardrail and toe board belong in place; netting is a second layer on top of them.
The toe board is the one most often neglected. It is what stops a dropped hand tool. Debris netting catches it as the second line of defence, but the first line is the toe board.
Our safety systems
The safety components we produce are made under the ISO 9001 quality system and EN 1090 structural steel conformity. Surface treatment is galvanised coating or electrostatic paint.
The system is more than netting: guardrails, toe boards, fall-prevention barriers and site perimeter components work together.
Checklist
- Is the net type right for the job? (people, material or dust)
- Has the required sag been left?
- Does the fixing spacing follow the design?
- Are there cuts, tears or repaired areas?
- When was it fitted, and how long has it been in the sun?
- Are guardrails and toe boards in place?
Send us your site layout and we will work out which components you need.