Work Health and Safety (Safe Design of Structures) Code of Practice 2015

The Work Health and Safety (Safe Design of Structures) Code of Practice 2015 is an approved code of practice made under section 274 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. It is described 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 the subject matter it covers.

The Code is aimed at the safe design of structures that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as workplaces. It is not limited to final building use. It is concerned with the health and safety of people who construct, use, maintain, modify, demolish, dismantle or otherwise interact with the structure over its life.

The Code was developed by Safe Work Australia as a model code of practice for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. That matters because businesses should not assume the Commonwealth instrument is the only version that matters to their project. Before relying on this page, check the WHS laws and any adopted code in the jurisdiction where the work is being done.

An approved code of practice applies to anyone who has a duty of care in the circumstances described in the code. In most cases, following an approved code of practice would achieve compliance with the relevant health and safety duties in the WHS Act for the subject matter covered by the code.

The Code also makes two important points for businesses. First, codes of practice deal with particular issues and do not cover every hazard or risk that may arise. Duty holders still need to consider all risks associated with the work, not only those specifically addressed in a code. Second, compliance may also be achieved 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.

The Code has evidentiary significance. It is admissible in court proceedings under the WHS Act and Regulations. Courts may regard it as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or control and may rely on it when determining what is reasonably practicable in the circumstances. Inspectors may also refer to it when issuing improvement or prohibition notices.

The Code provides practical guidance to persons conducting a business or undertaking who design structures that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as workplaces. It specifically includes architects, building designers and engineers, but the category is much broader than those traditional labels.

According to the Code, a designer is a person conducting a business or undertaking whose profession, trade or business involves preparing sketches, plans or drawings for a structure, including variations or changes, or making decisions for incorporation into a design that may affect the health or safety of people who construct, use or carry out other activities in relation to the structure.

The Code expressly includes design practitioners contributing to any part of the design, building service designers, engineering firms designing services that are part of the structure, contractors carrying out design work as part of a project, temporary works engineers, and persons who specify how structural alteration, demolition or dismantling work is to be carried out.

It is also relevant for anyone making decisions that influence the design outcome, such as clients, developers and builders. If your business is not producing the main drawings but is still shaping the design outcome, you should not assume the Code is irrelevant.

The Code applies to the design of structures as defined under the WHS Act. That definition is broad. A structure is anything that is constructed, whether fixed or moveable, temporary or permanent. The Code gives examples including buildings, masts, towers, framework, pipelines, roads, bridges, rail infrastructure and underground works such as shafts or tunnels.

Importantly, the definition also includes any component of a structure and part of a structure. This means the Code is not limited to whole-building design. It can apply to a building service, a structural component, a temporary support system, a refurbishment element or another part of a larger project if that design affects health and safety.

For practical business use, this broad definition means the Code can be relevant to projects such as office fitouts, mezzanine additions, service upgrades, access systems, plant rooms, temporary works, demolition planning and staged modifications, not only new standalone buildings.

A person conducting a business or undertaking that designs a structure that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the structure is without risks to health and safety. The Code says this duty includes carrying out testing and analysis and providing specific information about the structure.

The phrase reasonably practicable is central. The Code explains that deciding what is reasonably practicable requires taking into account and weighing all relevant matters, including the likelihood of the hazard or risk occurring, the degree of harm that might result, what is known about the hazard or risk and ways of eliminating or minimising it, the availability and suitability of those ways, and the cost of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

The Code also recognises that design responsibility is not always neatly divided. Duties may be concurrent and overlapping. More than one person can owe duties about the same safety issue, and each person must discharge their own duty to the extent they can influence or control the matter.

The Code defines safe design as integrating control measures early in the design process to eliminate, or if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise risks to health and safety throughout the life of the structure being designed. It says safe design begins at the concept development phase.

At that early stage, decisions are being made about the design and intended purpose, materials, possible methods of construction, maintenance, operation, demolition or dismantling and disposal, and the legislation, codes of practice and standards that need to be considered and complied with. The Code explains that eliminating hazards at the design or planning stage is often easier and cheaper than making changes later when hazards become real risks in the workplace.

The Code also notes that safe design sits alongside other design objectives such as practicability, aesthetics, cost and functionality. Those objectives need to be balanced in a way that does not compromise the health and safety of people who work on or use the structure over its life.

The Code says a risk management process should be used as part of the design process. It describes this as a systematic way of making a workplace as safe as possible. The steps are to identify reasonably foreseeable hazards associated with the design of the structure, assess the risks if necessary, eliminate or minimise the risk by designing control measures, and review the control measures.

The Code recommends integrating this process into the design phases rather than treating it as a separate compliance exercise at the end. It also recommends collaboration between the client, designer and constructor.

In the pre-design phase, the Code recommends establishing the design context, the risk management context, the required design disciplines and competencies, and the roles and responsibilities of the various parties. It also recommends consultation and research to help identify hazards, assess risks and control them.

The Code says designers should consider how their design will affect the health and safety of those who interact with the structure throughout its life. This includes people who use the structure for its designed purpose, construct it, carry out reasonably foreseeable activities in relation to its manufacture, assembly, use, proper demolition or disposal, or are at or near a workplace and may be affected by the structure or related activities.

In practical terms, the Code says designers should think about hazards that may occur as the structure is built, commissioned, used, maintained, repaired, refurbished or modified, decommissioned, demolished or dismantled, and disposed of or recycled.

The Code gives a simple example. If a building includes a lift for occupants, the design should also include sufficient space and safe access to the lift well or machine room for maintenance work. That example shows the broader point. A design that works for day-one use may still be unsafe if it creates avoidable risks for cleaners, service technicians, maintenance workers, demolition crews or others later in the lifecycle.

The Code says a designer should have more than core design capability. It lists knowledge of WHS legislation, codes of practice and other regulatory requirements, an understanding of the intended purpose of the structure, knowledge of risk management processes, knowledge of technical design standards, an appreciation of construction methods and their impact on design, and the ability to source and apply relevant data on human dimensions, capacities and behaviours.

The Code also recognises that many design projects are too large or complex to be fully understood by one person. Various people with specific skills and expertise may need to be included in the design team or consulted during the design process to fill knowledge gaps. The examples given include ergonomists, engineers and occupational hygienists.

For businesses, the practical lesson is straightforward. If your team does not have the expertise needed to identify and control a design-related risk, bring in the right expertise early rather than trying to patch the issue later.

The Code says consultation is both a legal requirement and an essential part of managing WHS risks. A safe workplace is more easily achieved when people involved at the design stage communicate about potential risks and work together on solutions.

A person conducting a business or undertaking must consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking and are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a WHS matter. If those workers are represented by a health and safety representative, the consultation must involve that representative. The Code specifically says that if you are commissioning a new workplace or refurbishing an existing workplace, you must consult workers who will be using the workplace because their health and safety may be affected by the new design.

Duty holders must also consult, co-operate and co-ordinate activities with all other persons who have a WHS duty in relation to the same matter, so far as is reasonably practicable. The Code notes that design often occurs over stages and involves different people making financial, commercial, specialist or technical decisions. In those circumstances, each party may have responsibility for health and safety in the design stage.

The Code also states that a person who commissions construction work must consult with the designer to ensure that risks arising from the design during construction are eliminated or minimised as far as reasonably practicable. The client must also provide the designer with any information the client has about hazards and risks at the site where the construction work is to be carried out.

The Code says key information about identified hazards and action taken or required to control risks should be recorded and transferred from the design phase to those involved in later stages of the lifecycle. This helps later duty holders understand residual risks and reduces the chance that safety features built into the design will be altered or removed.

Designers must give adequate information to each person who is provided with the design in order to give effect to it. The Code says that information includes the purpose for which the structure was designed, the results of any calculations, testing, analysis or examination, and any conditions necessary to ensure the structure is without risks when used for its designed purpose or when carrying out related activities such as construction, maintenance and demolition.

The designer must also, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide this information to any person who carries out activities in relation to the structure if requested. The Code gives practical examples of information that may need to be transferred, including notes on drawings, significant hazards, hazardous substances or flammable materials included in the design, heavy or awkward prefabricated elements, access problems, temporary work required to construct or renovate the building as designed, features essential to safe operation, methods of access where normal scaffold securing methods are not available, parts of the design where risks have been minimised but not eliminated, and noise and vibration hazards from plant.

The Code explains that a designer must provide a written report to the person conducting a business or undertaking who commissioned the design if the design has hazards that, so far as the designer is reasonably aware, create a risk to persons carrying out the construction work and are associated only with the particular design and not with other designs of the same type of structure.

The Code describes this as a safety report and says it applies to designs with unusual or atypical features that present hazards and risks during the construction phase that are unique to the particular design. The report should include information about hazardous materials or structural features, the designer’s assessment of the risk of injury or illness to construction workers arising from those hazards, and the action the designer has taken to control those risks, such as changes to the design.

The client must provide a copy of the safety report to the principal contractor. The Code also says that developing a work health and safety file for the structure could help the designer meet the duty to provide information to others. That file could include the safety report, risk register, safety data sheets, manuals and procedures for safe maintenance, dismantling or eventual demolition.

Many businesses assume this Code only matters when they are the lead architect or engineer on a major project. The text is broader than that. It can apply whenever a business prepares design output, influences the design outcome, designs a component or service that forms part of the structure, or changes an existing design.

One of the clearest trigger points in the Code is design modification. It says that a person conducting a business or undertaking who alters or modifies a design without consulting the original or subsequent designer will assume the duties of a designer. That means a builder, fitout contractor, services contractor or project manager can move into designer territory without realising it.

Another common trigger point is failing to think beyond construction or handover. The Code expects lifecycle thinking, so access for maintenance, cleaning, repair, refurbishment, demolition and dismantling should be considered early. The pre-design phase also matters. The Code recommends that the client prepare a project brief including safety requirements and objectives and provide all available site information that may affect health and safety.

For practical use, the Code is best treated as a working framework for design decisions rather than a document to read only after a problem appears. Start by identifying whether the project involves a structure, component or part of a structure that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as a workplace. Then identify who is making design decisions and whether any contractor, consultant or client-side decision maker may also be acting as a designer.

Next, build WHS into the project brief and early design discussions. Ask what tasks people will perform during construction, use, maintenance, cleaning, repair, modification and demolition. Gather available site information. Identify hazards that are in scope because they can be affected, introduced or increased by the design. Where risks cannot be eliminated, document how they have been minimised and what information needs to be passed on.

Finally, check the legal setting before relying on the Code. Confirm the jurisdiction, the applicable WHS laws, whether a local version of the model code applies, and whether another standard is being used instead. If another standard is relied on, make sure it provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety.