Work Health and Safety (Construction Work) Code of Practice 2015

The Work Health and Safety (Construction Work) Code of Practice 2015 is an approved code of practice under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. The Code describes itself as a practical guide to achieving the standards of health, safety and welfare required under the WHS Act and the Work Health and Safety Regulations for construction work. It applies to anyone who has a duty of care in the circumstances described in the Code.

For a business, that means this document has real operational weight. The Code says that in most cases, following an approved code of practice would achieve compliance with the health and safety duties in the WHS Act in relation to the subject matter of the code. It is also admissible in court proceedings. Courts may regard it as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or control and may rely on it when deciding what was reasonably practicable. Inspectors may also refer to it when issuing an improvement or prohibition notice.

The Code also explains that it is not the only possible path to compliance. A business may comply by following another method, such as a technical or industry standard, if that method provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety than the Code. That does not reduce the Code's importance. In practice, if your systems differ from the Code, you should be confident you can show that your alternative approach meets or exceeds the same safety standard.

The Code was developed by Safe Work Australia as a model code of practice for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. That model status matters. Businesses should check whether the Code has been adopted, modified or supplemented in the jurisdiction that applies to their work before treating this page as a complete jurisdiction-specific answer.

The Code should not be read in isolation. The foreword says approved codes of practice deal with particular issues and do not cover all hazards or risks that may arise. Duty holders still need to consider all risks associated with work, not only those for which regulations and codes exist. The Code also says it should be read in conjunction with other codes of practice on specific hazards and control measures relevant to the construction industry.

The extract lists a number of related codes, including Demolition Work, Excavation Work, Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces, Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work, Preventing Falls in Housing Construction, Confined Spaces, Hazardous Manual Tasks, Safe Design of Structures, Managing the Work Environment and Facilities, Managing Electrical Risks in the Workplace, How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace, and How to Safely Remove Asbestos.

The practical point is straightforward. If your job involves excavation, demolition, falls, electrical work, asbestos, plant, hazardous manual tasks or another specific hazard, this Code is only part of the picture. You may need to apply the construction work framework together with more specific rules and guidance that deal with that hazard directly.

The extract also points to other WHS Regulation topics that may apply to construction work, including prevention of falls, noise, hazardous manual tasks, confined spaces, demolition work, electrical safety and electrical work, plant and structures, high risk work licensing and registrations, hazardous chemicals, asbestos and lead, and resolving WHS issues.

The Code adopts the broad definition of construction work in regulation 289. It covers any work carried out in connection with the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting-out, commissioning, renovation, repair, maintenance, refurbishment, demolition, decommissioning or dismantling of a structure. The Code says construction work can be commercial, civil or housing construction.

The definition goes well beyond the core building activity. The extract says construction work includes installation or testing carried out in connection with those activities, removal from the workplace of product or waste resulting from demolition, prefabrication or testing of elements at a place specifically established for the construction work, assembly or disassembly of prefabricated elements, installation, testing or maintenance of an essential service in relation to a structure, work connected with an excavation, and preparatory work or site preparation carried out in connection with the work. It also includes relevant work carried out on, under or near water.

The phrase 'in connection with' is especially important. The Code says it means related to or associated with construction work, and that contracts covering a project are a good guide to what activities are done in connection with construction. The extract gives practical examples. Covered activities include work by architects or engineers in on-site offices or conducting on-site inspections, work by a mechanic on an excavator on-site, delivering building materials to different points on the site, excavating for a basement garage, testing fire equipment on the construction site, supervisors and managers moving around the site to monitor work, surveying a site after construction has started, and traffic control on a construction site.

By contrast, the Code says 'in connection with' does not include planning and design activities carried out before construction work starts. That distinction matters for consultants and professionals who may be involved before and after site commencement. The same person may be outside the construction work definition when working off-site before commencement, but inside it when carrying out on-site inspections after work has started.

The Code also lists what is not construction work. According to the extract, construction work does not include the manufacture of plant, prefabrication of elements other than at a place specifically established for the construction work for use in that work, the construction or assembly of a structure that once constructed or assembled is intended to be transported to another place, testing, maintenance or repair work of a minor nature carried out in connection with a structure, and mining or the exploration for or extraction of minerals.

The most common grey area for many businesses is the exclusion for testing, maintenance or repair work of a minor nature. The Code clearly includes repair and maintenance of a structure within construction work, but then excludes testing, maintenance or repair work of a minor nature. That means not every maintenance or repair task is automatically construction work, but not every maintenance or repair task is excluded either.

For practical purposes, businesses should be cautious about relying on the minor nature exclusion. If the work is more than minor, involves multiple trades, affects the structure, requires significant access equipment, creates fall, electrical or demolition risks, or forms part of a broader refurbishment or upgrade, the safer assumption may be that the construction work framework applies unless a proper legal and factual assessment shows otherwise.

The WHS Act definition of a structure is broad. The extract says a structure is anything that is constructed, whether fixed or moveable, temporary or permanent. It includes buildings, masts, towers, framework, pipelines, transport infrastructure and underground works such as shafts or tunnels, as well as any component of a structure and part of a structure.

The Code gives examples that show how wide the concept is. These include a roadway or pathway, a ship or submarine, foundations, earth retention works and other earthworks, formwork, falsework or any other structure designed or used to provide support, access or containment during construction work, an airfield, a dock, harbour, channel, bridge, viaduct, lagoon or dam, and sewerage or drainage works. Housing-related examples include a carport, pergola, tool shed, tennis court, shade sails, awnings, an in-ground swimming pool, foundations and earthworks, support or access structures used during construction, a sewer, a septic tank and a stormwater drain.

The Code also explains what it means by housing construction work for its own purposes. It includes construction work relating to detached houses, attached dwellings separated by a fire resisting wall such as terraces, row or town houses, villa-homes, strata or company title home units or residential flats, boarding and guest houses, hostels or similar with a floor area under 300 square metres, and ancillary buildings to those structures. Work on multi-storey buildings above three habitable storeys is not considered housing construction work for the purposes of this Code.

There is also an important note about plant. Chapter 6 of the WHS Regulations, being the construction work chapter, does not apply to plant unless one of the listed exceptions applies. The extract identifies exceptions including certain plant such as a ship or submarine, a pipe or pipeline, an underground tank, or plant designed or used to provide support, access or containment during work in connection with construction work, as well as work on plant that relates to work carried out in connection with construction work and certain fixed plant outage or overhaul work involving or potentially involving five or more PCBUs at any point in time.

The Code says everyone involved in construction work has health and safety duties when carrying out the work. The primary duty under the WHS Act requires a PCBU to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that workers and other persons are not exposed to health and safety risks arising from the business or undertaking.

The extract identifies a range of duty holders that may be involved in the same matter. These include a PCBU that carries out construction work, designs the building or structure, commissions the construction work, is a principal contractor, has management or control of a workplace at which construction work is carried out, or carries out high risk construction work. Other duty holders include officers, workers and other persons such as visitors to construction sites.

The Code also says it is common in the construction industry for one person to fall into more than one duty holder category. For example, a principal contractor will have the duties of a principal contractor as well as other duties of a PCBU. A subcontractor is a PCBU and can also be a worker when working at a construction workplace. This is important for small businesses because WHS responsibility does not sit neatly with one party just because that party is the head contractor.

The Code makes clear that duties are often shared. More than one person can have the same duty, and where two or more people have the same duty, each person must comply with that duty even if another duty holder has the same duty. The extent of each person's responsibility is qualified by the extent to which that person has the capacity to influence and control the matter, or would have had that capacity but for an agreement or arrangement purporting to limit or remove that capacity.

That means a business cannot contract out of its health and safety duties. It can make practical arrangements with other PCBUs about who will do particular things, but each duty holder still needs to ensure the matter is actually addressed. The Code gives the example of first aid facilities. A principal contractor and a subcontractor may both have the same duty to ensure access to first aid facilities, but they may arrange for only one of them to provide the facilities. Each still needs to confirm the facilities are in place and accessible.

The extract also gives a practical housing construction example. Subcontractors have the capacity to directly manage the risks associated with their own work and the activities of any workers they engage. The principal contractor or builder can also influence and control the way work is carried out by coordinating and monitoring the work and confirming that risk control measures are implemented. Even if the principal contractor or builder is not present on site at all times, they must still ensure the work is being carried out safely. The Code says they should check the subcontractor's work procedures and any relevant SWMS, and then visit the site as necessary to verify the work is being carried out safely.

The Code says a construction project is a project that involves construction work where the cost of the construction work is $250,000 or more. A construction project covers all activities involved in the construction work up to the point the project is handed over to the person who commissioned it. The extract says handover usually takes place at practical completion, for example when a house is considered habitable and the buyer or owner takes possession.

The extract also explains how to value construction work. The cost can be determined by the contract price for carrying out the work. Included costs would include project management costs associated with the work, the costs of fittings and furnishings including any refitting or refurbishing associated with the work except in the stated land-use intensification situation, and taxes, levies or charges other than GST paid or payable in connection with the work by or under law. Excluded costs include the cost of the land, including civil engineering, utility and other land development cost involved in a land subdivision, costs associated with marketing or financing the development including interest on loans, and costs associated with legal work carried out or to be carried out in connection with the development.

Once the project reaches that threshold, principal contractor rules become central. Under the WHS Regulations, each construction project must have a principal contractor, and there can only be one principal contractor for a construction project at any one time. The person conducting the business or undertaking that commissions the project is the principal contractor unless that person appoints another PCBU to be principal contractor and authorises that person to have management or control of the workplace and discharge the duties of the principal contractor.

The Code also explains how that role can be held. A principal contractor can be a sole trader, a company or a partnership. If it is a company, the company has the duties of the principal contractor rather than the individual managers employed by the company. If it is a partnership, each partner is responsible for the duties of the principal contractor.

The Code defines several common industry roles in practical terms. A builder is a PCBU that commissions the construction work and is authorised to manage, control and coordinate the construction work at the workplace. For construction projects, that role is referred to as the principal contractor. A subcontractor is a PCBU that enters into a contract with a builder or principal contractor to undertake specified construction work. The Code also says subcontractors are workers.

An owner-builder is generally a person who builds their own home and has been issued with an owner-builder permit, licence or certificate, and will be considered to be a PCBU. The Code says owner-builders have management or control of the workplace and take on the responsibility and liability that would normally fall on the principal contractor. They must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of any workers they engage such as electricians, plumbers and gasfitters. The Code also notes that building laws may impose certain requirements.

Just as importantly, the Code says a person is not considered to be an owner-builder or a PCBU if they are a home buyer, owner or occupier commissioning work on their home, or an individual undertaking maintenance, refurbishment or minor renovations of their own home or helping a friend. That distinction is useful for ordinary homeowners, but businesses should be careful not to assume it applies where an owner-builder permit or equivalent arrangement places the person in the PCBU category.

The Code also defines a designer as a PCBU that designs a structure that is to be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as or at a workplace, including during construction, maintenance, renovation or demolition of the structure. That means design businesses can have WHS relevance even if they are not physically carrying out the construction work.

Regulation 297, as quoted in the extract, requires a PCBU to manage risks associated with the carrying out of construction work. The Code then sets out the general WHS risk management process drawn from regulations 32 to 38. A duty holder must identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to the risk, eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, and if elimination is not reasonably practicable, minimise the risk so far as is reasonably practicable by implementing control measures. The duty holder must maintain the control measure so that it remains effective, and review and if necessary revise control measures.

The Code says Chapter 3 provides guidance on managing risks associated with construction work by following a systematic process involving identifying hazards, assessing risks if necessary, implementing control measures, and maintaining and reviewing the effectiveness of those control measures. It also points readers to the Code of Practice: How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks for guidance on the risk management process.

For businesses, the practical message is that WHS management must match the actual work being done. Generic paperwork is not enough if it does not reflect the site, the task, the sequencing, the plant, the access arrangements and the people involved. Construction work changes quickly, so controls need to be maintained and reviewed as conditions change.

The Code says consultation is both a legal requirement and an essential part of managing health and safety in construction work. Section 46, as quoted in the extract, requires a PCBU to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with all other persons who have a work health or safety duty in relation to the same matter, so far as is reasonably practicable.

This is especially important on construction sites because contractors and subcontractors often work at the same place and their activities overlap. The Code says they must communicate with each other to identify hazards and risks, discuss health and safety concerns, and work together to find solutions. It also says principal contractors for a construction project have specific duties under the WHS Regulations to include arrangements in their WHS management plan outlining how PCBUs at the workplace will consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with each other.

The extract gives practical examples. In one example, a roof tiler installs a roof perimeter guardrail system and the builder agrees it will remain in place until solar panels are installed by another subcontractor. The trades communicate when each stage is complete, the panel installer checks the guardrail before starting, and the builder checks progress and ensures the relevant fall protection information is included in each subcontractor's SWMS and properly installed on site. In another example, an electrician and carpenter need to coordinate an electricity shut off so neither creates a risk for the other. In a third, a plumber and builder coordinate attendance, deliveries and site access so workers and vehicles stay clear of the delivery area and gates are secured.

These examples show that consultation is not just a toolbox talk or a form. It is active coordination about timing, access, isolation, sequencing, shared controls and changing site conditions.

The extract also quotes sections 47 and 48 of the WHS Act. A PCBU must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for them who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a work health and safety matter. If those workers are represented by a health and safety representative, the consultation must involve that representative.

For a business owner, this means worker consultation is not optional and should not be treated as a one-way instruction process. If a change to access, sequencing, plant use, isolation, deliveries, supervision or work method affects workers, they should be consulted in a way that is practical and timely. Where there is a health and safety representative, that person must be involved.

The available extract does not include the full later chapter detail on training, instruction and supervision, so businesses should check the full instrument and applicable jurisdictional materials before relying on any narrow interpretation of those later operational requirements.

The table of contents and introductory material show that the Code contains dedicated chapters on safe work method statements, WHS management plans for construction projects, information, training, instruction and supervision, and general workplace management arrangements. The extract confirms that high risk construction work listed in regulation 291 requires a safe work method statement, and that Chapter 4 of the Code provides more detail. It also confirms that principal contractors for a construction project have specific duties under the WHS Regulations to include consultation, cooperation and coordination arrangements in their WHS management plan.

Because the later chapter text is not fully available here, this page does not attempt to restate every detailed content requirement for a SWMS or WHS management plan. What can be said confidently from the extract is that businesses should check whether any task is high risk construction work, whether a SWMS is therefore required, whether the job is a construction project, and whether the principal contractor has a WHS management plan that people on site actually understand and follow.

The table of contents also shows that the Code includes appendices with examples of construction work, examples of high risk construction work, design duties, a SWMS template and example, and WHS management plan guidance and templates. Those materials are likely to be useful operational tools when reviewing site systems against the Code.

If you run a construction business, the first question is whether the work falls within the Code's broad definition of construction work. If it does, the next questions are who has duties, who has management or control, whether the work is high risk construction work, and whether the project reaches the $250,000 threshold for a construction project.

If you are a subcontractor, focus on the risks created by your own work, your workers, your plant, your access arrangements and your interaction with other trades. If you are a builder or principal contractor, focus not only on your own work but also on how the site is coordinated, how overlapping activities are managed, and whether subcontractor controls are actually implemented. If you commission work, check whether you remain the principal contractor by default or have properly appointed another PCBU to that role. If you are an owner-builder treated as a PCBU, recognise that the Code says you may take on responsibilities and liabilities that would otherwise sit with the principal contractor.

Finally, remember that this is a model code and that the extract available here is not the full later chapter text. Before relying on this page for a live project, check the full current instrument, the applicable WHS Act and Regulations, and the local adoption position in the jurisdiction that governs the work.

The Federal Register entry identifies this instrument as F2016L00394. The instrument states that it is the Work Health and Safety (Construction Work) Code of Practice 2015, made under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. The approval is dated 17 December 2015 and the instrument commences on the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. The Register metadata shown in the extract records registration on 30 March 2016, so commencement is 31 March 2016.

The Register entry shown in the extract describes the instrument as in force. The extract also states that the Code was developed as a model code of practice for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. Businesses should therefore confirm the current status and any local variations that apply to their own operations.