Purpose
Safety nets are designed to provide a soft landing and will stretch when a person (or object) impacts the net meshes. The net will deform under impact to absorb the energy of the falling person, through the mesh knots slipping and tightening (knotted nets) or net meshes (knotless nets) deflecting through plastic deformation.

The amount the loaded net stretches depends upon a number of factors, such as the height of the fall, the weight of the faller (plus any materials) and the position of impact in the net.

For these reasons, it is not possible to predict the performance of the net should it be subjected to additional loadings in the future. BS EN 1263-1 stipulates that nets should be checked by a competent person after loading. This is generally considered to be the manufacturer (not the installing company) and due to the logistics of this, FASET recommends that safety nets should only be loaded once.