Work Health and Safety (Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace) Code of Practice 2015

The Work Health and Safety (Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace) Code of Practice 2015 is an approved code of practice made under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. It is a practical guide to achieving the standards of health, safety and welfare required under the WHS Act and the Work Health and Safety Regulations.

That distinction matters. The Code is not a substitute for the Act or Regulations, and it does not cover every hazard or risk that may arise. But it is still legally important. Courts may treat an approved code of practice as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or control, and may rely on it when deciding what is reasonably practicable. Inspectors may also refer to it when issuing improvement or prohibition notices.

The Code also makes clear that compliance can be achieved by 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. For a business owner, the practical point is simple: if you depart from the Code, you should be confident your alternative approach is at least as protective and well supported.

This Code focuses on managing health and safety risks of plant once the plant is in the workplace. It covers plant from installation and commissioning through use, maintenance, storage, decommissioning and dismantling. It also points readers to related guidance for safe design, manufacture, import and supply of plant.

The main audience for this Code is a person conducting a business or undertaking, or PCBU, who has management or control of plant in the workplace. That includes businesses that own plant, operate plant, control the site where plant is used, or carry out activities involving plant such as installation, commissioning, maintenance, testing, repair or operation.

The Code explains that more than one person can have duties at the same time, and one person can hold more than one duty. For example, if you own and operate plant and then modify it yourself, you may also take on duties that sit with a designer and manufacturer. If you hire or lease plant, you may have management or control of it during the hire period, while the owner or lessor may also retain duties. If you send workers to another workplace or use mobile plant in a shared workplace, duties can overlap with the host business and other operators.

Officers, including company directors, have due diligence obligations to ensure the business complies with the WHS Act and Regulations. Workers must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, avoid adversely affecting others, comply with reasonable instructions and cooperate with reasonable health and safety policies and procedures.

The Code also addresses other duty holders connected to plant, including designers, manufacturers, importers, suppliers and installers. These parties have their own obligations to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that plant is without risks to health and safety, and to pass on information needed by downstream users.

The Code uses a broad definition of plant. It includes any machinery, equipment, appliance, container, implement and tool, and also includes any component or anything fitted or connected to those things. The examples in the Code include lifts, cranes, computers, machinery, conveyors, forklifts, vehicles, power tools and amusement devices.

That means many businesses are dealing with plant even if they do not think of themselves as operating industrial machinery. A warehouse forklift, a workshop hoist, a commercial mixer, a pressure vessel, a conveyor line, a vehicle used as plant, or even equipment with moving parts and electrical systems can all fall within the concept.

The Code also notes an important carve-out. Plant that relies exclusively on manual power for its operation and is designed to be primarily supported by hand, such as a screwdriver, is not covered by the WHS Regulations. Even so, the general duty of care under the WHS Act still applies to that kind of plant.

Some plant also attracts extra regulatory requirements. The Code notes that certain kinds of plant, such as forklifts, cranes and some pressure equipment, require a licence from the WHS regulator to operate, and some high-risk plant must also be registered with the regulator.

The Code is most useful when read as a set of trigger points across the life of plant. The first trigger is before plant arrives or is put into service. If you are purchasing or hiring plant, you should think about whether it is suitable for the intended task, what hazards it presents, what information the supplier has provided, whether design or item registration is required, and whether workers will need specific training, supervision or licences.

The next trigger is installation and commissioning. Plant can be unsafe even before normal operations begin if it is assembled incorrectly, placed in the wrong location, connected to unsafe power sources, or commissioned without proper checks. The Code is aimed squarely at this stage as well as later use.

Another trigger is day-to-day operation. Hazards can arise from the plant itself, from the way it is used, from the loads it handles, from the environment around it, and from interaction with pedestrians, vehicles or other plant. Changes to plant, changes to process, abnormal operating conditions, misuse and production pressure can all increase risk.

Maintenance, repair and cleaning are separate trigger points. Many serious incidents happen when plant is being accessed, cleaned, adjusted or repaired. The Code specifically addresses inspection, maintenance, repair and cleaning, and includes isolation of energy sources as a specific control measure.

The final trigger points are storage, decommissioning, dismantling and disposal. Risks do not end when plant stops operating. Businesses should still consider residual energy, access, dismantling methods, transport, and whether second-hand plant is being supplied for reuse, scrap or spare parts.

The Code follows the standard WHS risk management process. A person with management or control of plant must manage risks to health and safety associated with the plant. In practical terms, that means identifying reasonably foreseeable hazards, eliminating risks so far as is reasonably practicable, or if elimination is not reasonably practicable, minimising risks so far as is reasonably practicable by using the hierarchy of control. Control measures then need to be maintained and reviewed.

Hazard identification starts with the plant itself and the way it is used. The Code says hazards may arise from mobility, electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power sources, moving parts, load-carrying capacity, operator protection, the kind of loads handled, the size of the work area and the slope or evenness of the ground. It also tells businesses to think about all activities over the life of the plant at the workplace, including installation, commissioning, operation, inspection, maintenance, repair, transport, storage and dismantling.

The Code gives practical examples of the kinds of harm to look for. Plant may cause injury through entanglement, falling, crushing, trapping, cutting, puncturing, shearing, abrasion or tearing. It may create hazardous conditions through harmful emissions, fluids or gas under pressure, electricity, noise, radiation, friction, vibration, fire, explosion, moisture, dust, ice, or hot or cold parts. It may also create ergonomic risks if controls are hard to reach or require high force.

A risk assessment can help determine the severity of a risk, whether existing controls are effective, what action should be taken and how urgently. The Code also says a risk assessment is unnecessary if you already know the risk and how to control it. Even then, you still need to make sure the controls are actually implemented, maintained and reviewed.

The Code requires businesses to work through the hierarchy of control. Elimination is the highest level of protection. If a hazard cannot be eliminated, the risk should be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable using the most effective controls available in the circumstances.

The Code also contains a dedicated chapter on specific control measures for plant. These include guarding plant, operator controls, emergency stops, warning devices and isolation of energy sources. These are not minor technical details. They are core practical controls that often determine whether plant can be used safely in a real workplace.

Guarding is relevant where workers could be exposed to moving parts or other dangerous areas. Operator controls need to be designed and positioned so the plant can be used safely. Emergency stops need to be available where appropriate so the plant can be stopped quickly in an emergency. Warning devices may be needed where plant movement or operation creates a risk to others. Isolation of energy sources is critical during maintenance, repair and cleaning so the plant cannot start unexpectedly or release stored energy.

The Code also points to specific controls required under the WHS Regulations for certain types of plant, including powered mobile plant, plant that lifts or suspends loads, industrial robots, lasers, pressure equipment and scaffolds. If your business uses any of these categories, you should not rely on general plant safety processes alone.

The Code places real emphasis on information flow and day-to-day conduct, not just hardware. Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers all have duties to provide information about plant so other duty holders can manage risks. That information must be passed on through the chain from designer to manufacturer and supplier to the end user. It includes the purpose for which the plant was designed or manufactured, the results of calculations, analysis, testing or examination, and any conditions necessary for safe use.

For businesses receiving plant, this means you should ask for and keep the information needed to operate, inspect, maintain and store the plant safely. If you cannot explain the plant's intended use, limits, hazards and safe conditions of use, you may not have enough information to manage the risk properly.

The Code also has a chapter on keeping records. While the extract does not list every record type in detail, the Code clearly links registration, inspection and safe operation to documentation. In practice, businesses should be able to locate registration details where required, maintenance and inspection records, and the information supplied with the plant. If plant design registration is required, the manufacturer must give the design registration number to the person with management or control of the plant, and that person must ensure the number is kept readily accessible.

Conduct matters as much as paperwork. The Code says plant should only be used for the purpose for which it was designed unless the proposed use does not increase the risk to health or safety, and unauthorised alterations to or interference with plant must be prevented.

Consultation is built into the Code at each step of the risk management process. A PCBU must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for the business and who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a work health and safety matter. If workers are represented by a health and safety representative, that representative must be involved in the consultation.

The Code explains why this is practical, not just procedural. Workers often know the hazards and risks associated with the plant they use, inspect or maintain. Consulting them early, especially when introducing new plant or changing the way plant is used, makes it more likely that hazards will be identified and effective controls chosen.

Where more than one business has duties in relation to the same matter, they must consult, cooperate and coordinate activities so far as is reasonably practicable. The Code gives examples involving on-hire businesses, host businesses and shared workplaces. If your workers operate plant at another site, or if contractors install or repair plant at your site, you should exchange information and agree who is doing what to control the risk.

The Code also addresses instruction, training and supervision, and defines a competent person as someone who has acquired through training, qualification or experience the knowledge and skills to carry out the task. In some contexts, such as design verification or inspection for registration purposes, the Code gives a more specific meaning. Businesses should check whether the task requires general competency, a specific licence, or a more specialised engineering or inspection capability.

The Code says certain items of plant and certain plant designs must be registered. Registrable plant must be design registered before it is supplied, and item registered before it is used. Appendix A contains the list of registrable plant.

Design registration applies to a completed design from which any number of individual items can be manufactured. The application may be made by the original designer or by a person with management or control of the item of plant. Item registration applies to a specific item of plant, and each item requires registration. The purpose of item registration is to ensure the plant is inspected by a competent person and is safe to operate.

The Code places responsibility for ensuring registrable plant items are registered on the person with management or control of the plant. If your business controls the plant at the workplace, you should not assume someone else has taken care of registration. Check it.

The Code also gives practical guidance for second-hand plant. Suppliers of second-hand plant should identify faults so far as is reasonably practicable and provide a written notice outlining the condition of the plant, any faults identified and, if appropriate, that the plant should not be used until the fault is rectified. If second-hand plant is supplied for scrap or spare parts, the recipient should be informed in writing or by marking the item that the plant in its current form is not to be used as plant.

This page is a practical overview, not a substitute for the full Code, the WHS Act, the WHS Regulations or regulator advice for your jurisdiction. Businesses operating in more than one state or territory should be especially careful, because adoption and regulator practice can vary.

Official source: Federal Register of Legislation, Work Health and Safety (Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace) Code of Practice 2015, F2016L00422. The instrument is in force and commenced on the day after registration. The Code was approved under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The Code was developed as a model code of practice for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. Because local adoption and regulator guidance may differ, businesses should check the rules and guidance that apply in the jurisdiction where the plant is used.