Construction Safety Plans
A construction safety plan can assist principal contractors to manage their workplace health and safety obligations.
A principal contractor must prepare a construction safety plan before construction work starts.
The plan must state:
Workplace address;
Name and address of the principal contractor;
Principal contractor's ABN;
Whether there is a WHS committee;
Whether there is a WHS Officer appointed;
Expected start date;
Estimated duration of the work;
Type of construction;
Plant provided for common use;
Site rules;
The risks the principal contractor is obliged to manage;
Proposed control measures for the risks;
How the controls will be implemented;
Arrangements for monitoring and reviewing controls;
Emergency procedures;
Public safety strategies.
The plan must be written so it is easy to understand, signed and dated by the principal contractor. It must be available for the length of the project.
The principal contractor must sign and date work method statements that have been received and keep them with the plan, as well as monitor their implementation.
The principal contractor cannot allow work to start unless:
The plan has been discussed with or a copy given to all relevant people;
The plan is available or readily available for inspection.
The plan must be amended if there are changes in how risks will be managed.
The principal contractor must inform any affected person of the change.
Authorisations
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Authorisations (e. g. licences, permits and registrations) are required for certain types of work, some workplaces and the use of some plant.
Workplaces (Section 41)
The WHS Regulation requires some workplaces (e. g. major hazard facilities) to be approved or authorised. A person must not conduct a business or undertaking, or direct or allow a worker to carry out work, if the workplace is not authorised in accordance with the WHS Regulation.
Plant (section 42)
A PCBU must not direct or allow a worker to use plant or equipment if it is not authorised.
Under the WHS Regulation, the following items of plant require registration of their design:
Pressure equipment, other than pressure piping;
Gas cylinders covered by Part 1. 1 of AS2030. 1;
Tower cranes, including self-erecting tower cranes (excluding cranes or hoists that are manually powered, scissor lifts, vertically moving platforms and tow trucks);
Lifts, including escalators and moving walkways;
Building maintenance units;
Hoists with a platform movement exceeding 2. 4 metres, designed to lift people;
Work boxes designed to be suspended from cranes;
Amusement devices covered by section 2. 1 of AS3533 (except playground structures, water slides, wave generators, sealed inflatable devices and inflatable devices that do not use a non-return valve);
Concrete placement units with delivery booms;
Prefabricated scaffolding and prefabricated formwork;
Boom type elevating work platforms;
Gantry cranes with a safe working load greater than 5 tonnes, or bridge cranes with a safe working load of greater than 10 tonnes, and any gantry crane or bridge crane which is designed to handle molten metal or Schedule 11 hazardous chemicals;
Vehicle hoists;
Mast climbing work platforms;
Mobile cranes with a rated capacity of greater than 10 tonnes.
Under the WHS Regulation the following items of plant and equipment require to be registered:
Certain boilers and pressure vessels;
Tower cranes, including self-erecting tower cranes (excluding cranes and hoists that are manually powered);
Lifts, including escalators and moving walkways;
Building maintenance units;
Amusement devices covered by section 2. 1 of AS3533 (except playground structures, water slides, wave generators, sealed inflatable devices and inflatable Devices that do not use a non-return valve);
Concrete placement units with delivery booms;
Mobile cranes with a rated capacity of greater than 10 tonnes.
Work (Section 43)
A PCBU must not direct or allow a worker to carry out work if it is required to be done by an authorised person. Under the WHS Regulation, the following high risk work must only be performed by people who have been authorised (i. e. licensed) to carry out that particular type of work:
Scaffolding;
Dogging and rigging;
Crane and hoist operation;
Operating reach stackers;
Forklift operation;
Pressure equipment operation.
Prescribed qualifications and experience (Section 44)
The WHS Regulation requires the following types of work only to be carried out or supervised by a person with prescribed qualifications or experience:
Driving:
General driving work (section 171 and 177 WHS Regulation)
Incidental driving work (section 172 WHS Regulation)
Limited scientific driving work (section 173 WHS Regulation)
High risk driving work (sections 183 and 184 WHS Regulation)
Plant:
Maintenance, repair, inspection and testing of registered mobile cranes and tower cranes (section 235 WHS Regulation);
Maintenance, repair, inspection and testing of amusement devices (sections 240 and 241 WHS Regulation);
Verification of plant design (section 252 WHS Regulation).
Construction:
All construction work (requires general construction induction training sections 316 and 317 WHS Regulation).
76 Management of asbestos:
Identification of asbestos at a workplace (section 422 WHS Regulation).
Asbestos related work:
Air monitoring of the work area where asbestos related work is being carried out (section 482 WHS Regulation).
In the case of asbestos removal work, the WHS Regulation requires the:
Asbestos removalist to be licensed (section 458 WHS Regulation);
Nominated asbestos removal supervisor to be competent;
Asbestos removal worker to hold certification in relevant units of competency (section 460 WHS Regulation);
Clearance inspection for non-friable asbestos removal work to be undertaken only by competent person (section 473 WHS Regulation);
Clearance certificate in relation to non-friable asbestos removal work to be issued only by a competent person (section 474 WHS Regulation);
Air monitoring during friable asbestos removal work to be undertaken only by a licensed asbestos assessor (section 489 WHS Regulation);
Clearance inspection for friable asbestos removal work to be undertaken only by a licensed asbestos assessor (section 489 WHS Regulation);
Clearance certificate in relation to friable asbestos removal work to be issued only by a licensed asbestos assessor (section 489 WHS Regulation).
Recording Workplace Incidents
You are required by law to report incidents in the workplace where there is:
Serious bodily injury;
Work caused illness;
Dangerous event;
Dangerous electrical event;
Serious electrical incident;
Major accident under the DGSM Act.
Workplace Health & Safety Obligations
A person who conducts a business or undertaking is considered a relevant person and can include:
Employers;
Self-employed people;
Volunteer organisations.
Meeting your workplace health and safety obligations involves:
Providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment;
Providing and maintaining safe plant;
Ensuring the safe use, handling, storage and transport of substances;
Ensuring safe systems of work;
Providing information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure health and safety.
Notifiable Incidents
Employers and self-employed
Under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 you are required to inform Workplace Health and Safety Queensland if the following events happen at the workplace:
Serious bodily injury;
Work caused illness;
Dangerous event.
You should advise your employer of:
All workplace accidents even when you only receive minor injuries;
All workplace incidents (including near misses).
Duty to preserve incident sites
The person with management or control of relevant premise at which a notifiable incident has happened must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the site where the incident happened is not disturbed until an inspector arrives at the site or any earlier time that an inspector directs.
Note* A relevant person must keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least 5 years from the day that notice of the incident is given to the regulator.
Non Serious Incidents
Although you do not have to notify Workplace Health and Safety Queensland about non-notifiable incidents, it is important to record and investigate ALL incidents including 'near misses' so that action can be taken to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.
It also provides a good record such that more serious incidents can be avoided.
How are hazards identified?
Hazards can be identified in a number of ways. For example:
Workplace inspections;
Examining records of incidents and dangerous occurrences in the workplace;
Keeping up to date with information released about particular products and processes;
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Contact with other workplaces using similar processes; or
If you have a large site with several contractors and employees - by consulting the Health and Safety Representative and employees from that site.
General Induction Training
General induction training teaches people the knowledge and skills described in the unit of competency to 'Work Safely in the Construction Industry'.
General induction is a structured training course that has a nominal duration of 6 hours in the classroom or can be done online in a few hours. .
The course assessment will require the demonstration of all the elements of induction training as specified in the unit of competency.
Upon successfully completing the course a laminated card will be provided to you. It will have a serial number and should contain your signature and the date of the course.
As of January 2012, under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act , WorkCover NSW accept interstate ONLINE White Cards - (NTIS course CPCCOHS1001A) for NSW residents.
You ONLINE QLD White Card course - Work Safely in the Construction Industry CPCCOHS1001A is from the CPC08 Construction, Plumbing and Services Integrated Framework Training Package. This is a NATIONALLY recognised under the Australian Quality Training Framework, ASQA & as of January 2012 , is accepted by WorkCover NSW for residents of New South Wales.
Under Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation , everyone working on construction sites (including owner builder projects) must be deemed to be competent, and are therefore required to successfully complete this course.
This WorkCover approved course is compulsory for anyone entering the building and construction industry who is over 14 years of age (including volunteers , full time
students on Work Experience programmes and/or students seeking casual employment ) or anyone who has been out of the industry for more than 2 years.
The course (the one you are sitting right now) will cover the following elements:
OHS Legislative Requirements;
Construction hazards and control measures;
OHS communication and reporting processes;
OHS incident response procedures.
WH&S Inspectors
The main role of an inspector is to ensure workplaces comply with workplace health and safety legislation. It is also part of an inspector’s role to provide information and advice on the legislation.
Inspectors visit workplaces for a variety of reasons including to:
Investigate workplace incidents;
Investigate reports of unsafe, or unhealthy conditions and dangerous work practices;
Assess workplace health and safety risks to workers and members of the public;
Conduct workplace health and safety inspections and audits;
Provide information and advice on the legislation.
Mandatory (Must Do) Signs
The best safety signs have pictures on them so you can understand them even if you are from a non-English speaking background.
Images that are in blue usually denote a mandatory requirement. A picture depicting a pair of goggles will indicate that goggles MUST BE worn.
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Warning Signs
Yellow signs usually indicate warning to alert persons to dangers that may be present or to notify them of the potential to cause harm or injury.
Serious Injury (Electrical)
Trip Hazards
Prohibition (Do Not) Signs
The best safety signs have pictures on them so you can understand them even if you are from a non-English speaking background.
Blue signs that depict an image will always indicate that the image carries a mandatory or MUST DO / MUST WEAR requirement.
Whit signs with a red line through them indicate DO NOT or STOP action.
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Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS)
In terms of hierarchy of safety documentation, a SWMS generally sits within a site safety plan. The site safety plan would most typically identify OH&S controls for all issues relating to works on site including the requirement for a SWMS to be provided prior to any work activity taking place.
A person conducting a business or undertaking that includes carrying out high risk construction work in connection with a construction project must, before the high risk construction work commences, ensure that a copy of the safe work method statement for the work is given to the principal contractor.
A person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure that a safe work method statement is reviewed and, as necessary, revised if relevant control measures are revised under section 38.
If a notifiable incident occurs in connection with the high risk construction work to which the statement relates, the person must keep the statement for at least 2 years after the incident occurs.
The person must ensure that for the period for which the statement must be kept under this section, a copy is readily accessible to any worker engaged by the person to carry out the high risk construction work.
The person must ensure that for the period for which the statement must be kept under this section, a copy is available for inspection under the Act.
There are various SWMS formats for capturing the information required to establish that work is to be carried out safely, including the example provided. However regardless of the format used/provided the SWMS should identify as a minimum the work to be performed, the sequence of the work, hazards, and risks arising from the hazards and control measures to be used to remove/minimise the risk/s.
Additional information, such as the qualifications of those performing the work, the level of supervision to be provided, the use of any hazardous substances, the type of
plant/equipment to be used, must also be provided. This information may be captured in the SWMS or alternatively may be referenced in the SWMS