Why NFA
Falling from height is not fate. It is a decision.
Every fall from a roof is the end result of a choice made earlier — in an office, by someone who was not on the roof. Three arguments why that choice should almost always have been a guardrail.
Roof safety is a human right.
Every person has the fundamental right to work under safe and healthy conditions. This right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 23), ILO Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health, and ILO Convention 187 on the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health. Permanent collective edge protection — guardrails, parapets — is the direct technical expression of this right. Ensuring it is not an option: it is a moral and legal duty. It is simply not necessary to fall.
- UDHR Article 23
- ILO Convention 155
- ILO Convention 187
- Deuteronomy 22:8
01
The law prescribes the order
Article 3.16 of the Dutch Working Conditions Decree sets a mandatory order where there is a fall hazard: substitution, technical (collective) measures, organisational measures and only then personal protective equipment. The V&G Ontwerpwijzer Annex H — the assessment framework used by municipalities for permits and by the Labour Inspectorate for enforcement — puts guardrails at level 1 and lifelines at level 4.
Descending that hierarchy is only allowed where collective protection is demonstrably technically impossible. Economic reasons are expressly not a valid ground. The 2025 SBD Toolbox for harnessed work on flat roofs has explicitly dropped the "short-duration" exception.
Working Conditions Decree art. 3.16 · V&G Ontwerpwijzer Annex H · SBD Toolbox 2025
02
The building owner is responsible, even without work in progress
The Dutch Building Decree (Bbl) obliges owners to keep a safely maintainable building (art. 4.240–4.241) and, through art. 3.5, imposes a continuing duty to act: anyone who knows their roof poses a fall hazard must take measures. Not once, continuously.
Missing rooftop edge protection can be a legal defect under art. 6:174 of the Civil Code. The commissioning party also carries a duty to verify (Working Conditions Decree art. 2.26): it must satisfy itself that the work can be carried out safely. These duties stack and cannot be contracted away.
Bbl art. 3.5, 4.240–4.241 · Civil Code art. 6:174 · Working Conditions Decree art. 2.26
03
Safe work at height is a human right
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 23) and ILO Conventions 155 and 187 enshrine the right to safe and healthy working conditions. Permanent collective edge protection is the direct technical expression of that right.
The industry has accepted lifeline systems as the standard — not because they are safer, but because they look cheaper at purchase and are more attractive to the installer. NFA draws that line back to where the law puts it.
UDHR art. 23 · ILO 155 · ILO 187
04
Permanent guardrail is cheaper over its lifetime
In the NFA cost model the initial purchase price of lifeline systems is lower (a €14,495 difference). Annual inspections, PPE replacement, training, supervision and lost productivity make lifelines structurally more expensive over 60 years: €230,077 versus €66,004 for permanent guardrail, with 2% indexation.
The "cheap" choice is the expensive one. The full model calculation is available on request and will appear as a download in the knowledge base.
NFA TCO model calculation 2026 · 60 years · 2% indexation
05
What the figures say
The Dutch Labour Inspectorate analysed 371 serious roof-fall accidents in the period 2020–2023. 76% were directly linked to missing or inadequate rooftop edge protection. Not to the worker’s behaviour. To the absence of a provision that could have been there.
Dutch Labour Inspectorate 2020–2023, via lerenvoorveiligheid.nl
The weakest link is not the roofer. The weakest link is the decision-maker. Ask the only relevant question today: is a guardrail technically possible here?
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