Height Safety Engineers made compliant and improved walkway platforms for a series of HVAC units
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) units are the core of a building’s climate control system. Keeping them properly maintained must be a priority, as a lack of proper maintenance can post both a risk the unit will fail but also a health risk should legionella bacteria take hold.
Safely accessing these units can pose a challenge. In many cases, they are located on the roof of the building. And the units themselves can be several metres high. When needing to access the very top of a HVAC unit, the risk of a fall is significant as are the potential consequences.
An entertainment and concert venue in Sydney contracted out works to design and install access platforms to their 12 cooling towers located adjacent to the main facility.
Height Safety Engineers were engaged to design and perform significant rectification works after it was discovered the platforms had been incorrectly installed, leaving workers exposed to the risk of a fall from heights along with the potential for severe damage to the units to be incurred.
Issues with existing platforms
The issues with the original walkway were identified by technicians brought in to perform maintenance works on the HVAC cooling towers.
They found that installation of access platforms at the top of the towers had placed the walkway directly onto the towers themselves, with no bracing or support structure connecting them to the ground.
HVAC cooling towers are not designed to support the load of a platform, workers and their tools like this. Installing walkways in this manner could potentially lead to failure of the system and significant damage to the HVAC units. Understandably this would lead to significant problems for a venue that regularly hosts large-scale concert and other entertainment events with audience attendances into the tens of thousands.
Alongside the installation issue, the system had also been designed to incorporate separated segments. This meant there were multiple access points and no way to easily move between banks of HVAC units. Workers would be required to climb and descend multiple ladders to move between units over the course of their work.
The HVAC technicians informed the venue of these issues and noted that maintenance work would be unable to be performed with the system in its current state.
Designing platform rectification works
The venue initially contacted Height Safety Engineers in July 2025 to begin exploring options to rectify the walkway system and bring it into a state of both compliance and usefulness.
The HSE team then worked closely with both the venue and the HVAC technicians to design this new system.
One focus of the team was to ensure as much of the original walkway and platform material was reused. Although the system as whole was not compliant or useful, much of the material used could be incorporated into the rectified system. The main benefits of this approach would be significant reduction in wastage generated by the works, as well as being able to reduce lead-time following design approval as fewer components would need to be shipped to site.
The final design saw the consolidation of four individual platform systems into a single system with a single access point. This would allow the workers to ascend just a single ladder and be able to access all 12 of the HVAC towers.
Also removed was a second, lower, set of platforms used to access other areas of the cooling towers. These were deemed by the HVAC technicians to be unnecessary as works could be completed using alternate means.
Upgrading and rectifying platform access
The rectification works on the platforms were completed in January 2026. Over a little more than two weeks, HSE installation technicians decommissioned the existing platform system and rebuilt a new, compliant system.
This included the installation of support columns and framing for the walkway. This allowed it to stand alone, completely disconnected from the HVAC cooling towers. This provides both a stronger, more stable base onto which the walkway platforms are installed as well as removing the risk of damage to the towers from receiving loads they were not designed to.
Height Safety Engineers installed toe board around the outer extents of the walkway. This prevents tools and equipment from being accidentally knocked off as well as reduces the likelihood of a worker slipping underneath the guardrail.
A single, angled caged ladder was installed in an area that was easy for the workers to access and would allow them to move materials up and onto the platform for work.
The completed walkway system allowed easy and safe access to all the areas required by the HVAC technicians so they could carry out their work in an effective and efficient manner.
Partners in protecting people
Height Safety Engineers can design, install and certify fall protection and safe access systems for rooftop plant. Our team work with leading manufacturers to create bespoke, compliant systems that make undertaking maintenance of equipment easy.
Start your safety journey with Height Safety Engineers by calling us on 1300 884 978, emailing us enquiries@heightsafety.net or drop us a line by clicking here.
