The WHS Regulations provide specific requirements to be able to comply with the WHS Act. Although the WHS Regulation covers most, if not all, fields and industries, you must identify which particular requirements apply to your project to properly implement and comply with the standard outlined in the WHS legislation.
In the WHS Regulation, some sections apply to the building and construction industry. Therefore, you must give these sections your due attention, as they will inform you of the requirements you need to comply with the WHS legislation and who has the responsibilities in the workplace with regards to work health and safety.
Discussed below are the WHS chapters you should review as they apply to building and construction. You may also access the chapter in the WHS Regulation through their respective links.
General risk and workplace management (Chapter 3)
Chapter 3 of the WHS Regulations tackles the overall risk management duties of duty-holders, requiring them to identify, assess, and control the workplace's risk of hazards, in your case, the construction site. It also examines the hierarchy of control measures, which gives alternate measures if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk.
The chapter also discusses the provision of plans, facilities, and equipment for first aid and emergency response and training, instruction, and information on the hazards and their corresponding risks.
Specific discussion lays out WHS requirements for:
- Training, information, and instruction
- Workplace facilities
- First aid
- Emergency plans
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Remote or isolated work
- Managing risks from airborne contaminants
- Hazardous atmospheres
- Ignition sources
- Storage of flammable or combustible substances, and
- Falling objects.
Hazardous work (Chapter 4)
Chapter 4 of the WHS Regulations specifies the work health and safety requirements on hazardous work, particularly the following:
- Noise
- Hazardous manual tasks
- Confined spaces
- Falls
- High-risk work
- Demolition work
- General electrical safety and workplaces and energised electrical work
- Diving work (does not apply to general construction work).
The chapter discusses the effect of exposure to these types of hazardous work and the responsibilities of duty holders to eliminate or minimise the risk to builders and other workers. It also states the methods to be used against specific identified risks under those hazardous work.
Plant and structures (Chapter 5)
Chapter 5 of the WHS Regulations is concerned with the health and safety requirement revolving around the design, manufacturing, use, and maintenance of plant and structures for the construction work. This includes the provision of information and instruction and the use of controls to minimise risks (such as guarding, operational controls, emergency stop controls, and warning devices). It also discusses specific plants and the appropriate control measure for the risks they are involved with.
Construction work (Chapter 6)
Chapter 6 of the WHS Regulations sets out the WHS requirements involving the construction work and high-risk construction work, as defined in the WHS regulation (see Regulation 289 and 291, respectively). It is concerned with the duties of duty holders regarding construction work, such as planning and applying safe work method statements, WHS management plan, and other procedures and methods to ensure work health and safety compliance during construction work. It also states workers' duty to carry out the actual work, such as attending general construction induction training.
Hazardous chemicals (Chapter 7)
Chapter 7 declares the duty holder's responsibility concerning the manufacturing, import, use, and storage of hazardous chemicals in the workplace.
This involves requirements on:
- Safety data sheets
- Register and manifest of hazardous chemicals
- Display of warning placards
- Control of risk
- Health monitoring
- Induction, information, training, and supervision about hazardous chemicals
- Prohibitions, authorisation, and restricted use of hazardous chemicals
- A proper pipeline of hazardous chemicals.
The chapter also gives focus on the hazardous chemical lead. It emphasises the risks associated with the lead process (working with lead or lead-containing substances) and the proper and appropriate measure to minimise and even eliminate the risk.
Asbestos (Chapter 8)
Chapter 8 imposes duty holders with the management and control of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials, ensuring their elimination or minimisation when carrying out construction work, especially when involving them. The chapter also states the authorisation and licensing of asbestos-related work. This hazardous material was given its own chapter, as asbestos was extensively used in buildings as an insulating material and in areas with high moisture content until the hazardous nature of asbestos was understood, resulting in the ban of its use.
You need to make sure that WHS legislation is consistently met during the project. Thus, you must apply relevant WHS Regulation requirements to your project.
The following are some pointers you can consider to be able to apply WHS Regulation requirements properly.
Review WHS Regulation
Ensure you are reviewing the most current version of the legislation as there are revisions made since its first iteration. Make sure to check the chapters mentioned previously, as those are the ones that apply to the construction industry. You should become familiar with the terms used in the Regulation, which is defined at the beginning of each chapter so that you will not get confused with their meaning, as some terms do not apply in certain conditions.
List down requirements and related information
It is better to note the requirements and their relevant information in a separate document. This helps you organise the requirements that will make it easier for you to review them instead of going over the legislation again. You can also make this into a checklist to monitor which have been completed and which are yet to be accomplished. It would help if you also listed the duty of care of all those involved in the project to better understand who is responsible for the WHS Regulation's adherence.
Incorporate WHS regulation to construction work and processes
Incorporating the WHS Regulation directly to construction work and other relevant processes will help you consistently apply and comply with WHS requirements. By reviewing the WHS Regulation (and the WHS Act), you will know which procedures, tasks, and other aspects are affected. With these identified, you can appropriately integrate the requirements into them, aiding you in complying with the requirements.
Consolidate required licences, reports, and other documents
Some sub-regulations require certain documents (e.g. asbestos register, safety data sheets, high-risk construction licences, certification for operating plant and equipment, etc.) as part of the WHS Regulation requirements. Make sure to consolidate these documents so that you will not miss any of them during the project. Ensure duplicates and backups are available to prevent loss of information.
Applying work health and safety to the project involves learning how to adapt workplace procedures and safety requirements dictated by your organisation. This means you should implement your organisation's initiative on work health and safety for you to be able to comply with safety and legal requirements on behalf of the project and, by extension, the organisation you are under.
Workplace health and safety management system
An organisation usually has a workplace health and safety management system in place to be able to comply with WHS legislation. This is a set of policies, procedures, and plans that systematically manages health and safety at work and can help to minimise the risk of injury and illness from workplace operations.
The system is usually more than simply having safety-related forms and policies in place and documented procedures. Rather, it is about achieving the measures and contents of the safety documentation in an ongoing and managed way.
An effective WHS management system:
- is evolving and continuously improving
- uses feedback to manage and improve safety-related outcomes
- builds on existing health and safety processes
- integrates with other management systems
- provides for more informed decision making
- strengthens corporate culture and demonstrates due diligence.
Adapt WHS requirements
To adapt the organisation's WHS requirements into your project, you need to adhere to your organisation's WHS management system. To do this, take the following action step into considerations:
Examine the Work Health and Safety management plan
The WHS management plan provides the arrangements on the policies, procedures, and requirements necessary to comply with the organisation's work health and safety. Take note that organisations will have different WHS management procedures, such as documentation and reporting. Therefore, you should review your organisation's WHS management plan.
Know your duties and responsibilities
You should be aware of your responsibility to maintain work health and safety of the workplace throughout the project. You should also help other workers and stakeholders become aware of their duties and help create a workforce with the shared mindset of a safe work environment.
Participate in the organisation's safety training and drills
Organisations provide WHS training for their workers if necessary. This ensures that the workers are taught and trained to carry out construction work safely and up to standard. Make sure that you participate in safety training and drills prepared by your organisation.
Use Your organisation's WHS procedures and documents
As discussed earlier, the WHS management plan contains specific procedures and relevant documents necessary to comply with WHS requirements. When applicable, adapt these processes into your project's processes as well, as this will save time in planning and make it easier to comply with organisational and legal requirements. Remember, your organisation will also need to comply with WHS Regulations. Thus, adapting to their WHS requirements will, in turn, aid you to comply with the WHS Regulations as well. Therefore, see to it that your project can adapt to your organisation's workplace safety procedures.
Implementing strategies to ensure that employees are inducted, informed, and regularly updated on their on-site safety responsibilities will help you improve workers' awareness of health and safety risks. It will help you enhance staff performance and reduce the likelihood of workplace injury and illness.
There are four key characteristics of effective communication of workplace safety.
These are:
- Informative: Workers are well-informed on how to work safely under all conditions.
- Productive: The message can be communicated to the people who need it.
- Positive: Message focuses on the continuous improvement of processes and procedures.
- Interactive: You promote two-way communication by getting and listening to feedback and suggestion from your workers.
To achieve effective workplace safety communication and ensure workers are inducted, informed, and regularly updated on their on-site safety responsibilities, here are strategies you can implement to your project:
| Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
| Signages | The most direct method of communication is through signs at the construction site. These can provide brief, simple, but essential information about site safety, for example, exit and danger signs or posters, explaining proper safety attire and PPEs. These should be clear and large enough so that they are visible for them to be effective, especially in high-risk areas of the site. |
| Emails and newsletters | These are modes of communication that you can use to communicate and update your workers and stakeholders of new or revised information on work health and safety regularly and quickly. You should send a weekly or bi-monthly email with reports on WHS of your project. You may add images or videos to make emails more engaging to your recipients. |
| Meetings | Work health and safety discussions should be a regular part of your agenda in your project meetings, even making them a priority. Meetings are a way for your project management to tackle and resolve safety issues that arise or may arise in the project. Insights and suggestions from different fields and lines of work will help in brainstorming solutions for safety hazards and risks. |
| Inductions and training | Inductions and ongoing training are a practical way to communicate workplace safety to workers in the construction industry. One such regulated induction is required before access to a construction zone is allowed. Upon completing the general construction induction training, a card, known as a white card, is issued. Several site and task specific training and inductions should also be conducted, as well, as they give in-depth information on specific aspects of construction work health and safety. |
| Safety inspections | Conducting safety inspection of workers should not be used to determine who does not abide by safety requirements but instead, help them become more aware of the requirements. Inspections should also be performed on the construction site to ensure that the site is still safe to work on and show that the project prioritises the safety of the workers. |
| Plant and equipment | Providing plant and equipment that promotes health and safety, such as providing PPE and equipment with safety features, will help communicate the importance of safety on site. This will help workers commit to their safety responsibilities. |
