How Often Should Safety Nets Be Inspected? Rigging to Removal
- Nexus Examination
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
Safety nets get treated as part of the scaffolding once they are up, which is exactly how inspections get missed. They are work equipment, they degrade in sunlight, and they carry their own inspection regime. Here is how often safety nets should be inspected, what happens at each stage, and the annual test most sites forget about.
How Often Should Safety Nets Be Inspected?
Rigged safety nets should be inspected by a competent person at least every 7 days while they continue to be worked over, and again after adverse weather or any event that could affect them. Nets are also inspected during rigging and at handover, with a test mesh sent for laboratory testing every 12 months.
That makes nets one of the most frequently checked items on a site. We carry out WAHR examinations across Berkshire and the surrounding counties, and net intervals are far tighter than the ones people are used to elsewhere in the fall protection world. Our guide to how often fall protection equipment should be inspected sets out how the other categories compare.
The Inspection Points Through a Net's Life
A net is checked at several distinct stages rather than on one recurring date:
During rigging, by the competent person installing the system
At handover, before the contractor working above the net starts
Before work begins, as a visual check by the people about to work over it
Every 7 days, by a competent person, for as long as the net is worked over
After adverse weather, or any event that could have affected the net or its anchors
Every 12 months, when a test mesh is removed and laboratory tested
After each contract, with nets returned to the rigger's premises for formal inspection as good practice
In our experience, the two that slip are the weekly check on long-running jobs and the post-weather inspection after a storm that everyone was too busy to think about.
Where the 7 Day Interval Comes From
This is worth being precise about, because it is widely misquoted. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work equipment to be inspected at suitable intervals and after exceptional circumstances, but they do not name a 7 day figure for nets.
The 7 days comes from BS EN 1263-2 and the FASET Code of Practice, FASET being the UK trade body for safety netting. Those are the recognised benchmark for what a suitable interval looks like for a rigged net, which is why an inspector or main contractor will expect to see weekly records regardless of the wording in the regulations.
Each inspection needs recording, and the record should be available on site rather than filed away at head office.
Annual Test Mesh Testing
This is the part that surprises people, and it is unique to netting. A net degrades in ultraviolet light, and that loss of strength is invisible. You cannot judge it by looking.
So every net is manufactured with removable test meshes attached, each carrying a serial number traceable to that specific net. One mesh is removed and sent for laboratory energy absorption testing at intervals not exceeding 12 months, which shows whether the material still performs. FASET's guidance sets out how this works in practice.
There is a neat check here for anyone hiring nets in. Count the remaining test meshes against the date of manufacture on the label. A net made in January 2020 should have one fewer mesh for each year since. If the count does not add up, the testing regime probably is not being followed.
What a Net Inspection Checks
A weekly inspection is more than a glance up from ground level. A competent person works through the whole system, covering:
The mesh and border rope, for cuts, fraying, burns and general wear
The condition and security of every anchor point and tie
Correct tensioning and the absence of sagging
Gaps between the net and the structure, and coverage beyond the leading edge
Debris and materials collected in the net, which should be cleared
Labels, serial numbers and certification markings still being legible
Anything found gets recorded and acted on, and a damaged net comes out of service rather than being patched informally. Our fall protection equipment inspection work produces that documented trail as standard.
Nets Are Collective Protection, Not Personal Equipment
The reason net intervals look so different from everything else comes down to what nets are. A net is collective protection, working for everyone above it without anyone needing to clip on, which puts it higher up the hierarchy than personal equipment.
That difference drives the timing. Personal fall protection is stored, issued and worn by an individual, and runs on pre-use checks plus formal detailed inspections at much longer intervals, as we cover in our guide to how often a harness should be inspected. A net, by contrast, sits outdoors in the weather for the length of a contract, exposed to sunlight and site traffic the whole time, which is why the clock runs in days rather than months.
The Bottom Line
Rigged safety nets need inspecting by a competent person at least every 7 days, on top of the checks during rigging and at handover, and again after adverse weather or any event affecting the system. A test mesh goes for laboratory testing every 12 months.
Keep the weekly records on site, count the test meshes on any net you hire in, and treat a storm as a trigger for inspection rather than something to catch up on later. The net only has to work once.
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