Not “where are your SWMS?” but “what high-risk construction work is being undertaken? How are the risks being controlled?” and lastly, “have you written this up in a SWMS?” The management of HRCW is the purpose of the regs not the production of SWMS.
In November 2024, Twin Connect was fined $180K for failing to ensure the safety of a contractor when an excavator being operated by a Twin Connect employee struck a contracted traffic controller, causing serious injuries. This is an example of a duty holder wearing two hats. Twin Connect had duties both as a Principal Contractor
A subcontractor, SA Construct and a labour hire provider Brother Hu, have both been fined after a labour-hire worker fell through a skylight when working on a roof. SA Construct, hired by Principal Contractor Sarah Constructions to remove tiles on a roof, prepared a SWMS before work commenced, which did not identify the risk of falling
A recent decision by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission sheds some much-needed light on the extent of a Principal Contractor’s duty to supervise contractor compliance with SWMS. The PC, Diona, hired subcontractor Cahill to lay pipe, which involved the HRCW task of working near mobile plant. Cahill had prepared a SWMS, which Diona reviewed and
Safe Work Australia has released a case study in its WHS Principles series that provides clear and accurate guidance on the WHS duties owed by PCBU who are supplying and hiring labour hire workers. Finally! guidance that clearly confirms that a PCBU’s duties only extend to the matters over which they have management and control/
I am very grateful to have been given a wonderful opportunity to co-write the Body of Knowledge Chapter on Contractor Safety Management with Jon Harper Slade from NZ. Here is a little article in the AIHS OHS Professional Magazine about the focus of the chapter. Click here to view the article By the way thoughts
I am really looking forward to chatting with our friends across the ditch (NZ) about prequalification of contractors and unpacking what is it good for and how to keep it efficient and effective. Register here for the webinar: https://chasnz.org/events/
It can be difficult to work out if your contractors need a working with children check. It is important to get it right to ensure children are safe but also to avoid costly administration through requiring one when it is not necessary. Join me for the next webinar in the LinkSafe Professional Development Series –
How you respond and how well you are set up to respond following a serious incident involving contractors can be the difference between a prosecution or not. How you engage with your contractors after a serious incident can be the difference between blaming and ignorance or openness and learning. Join me and Joel Zyngier from
Free Webinar – Tuesday 30th January @ 1pm AEDT – Unpacking the 4 Principles of WHS Safe work Australia Guidance Again! In November 2023 Safe Work Australia issued a case study ostensibly to further explain and provide assistance to understanding the 4 Principles of WHS guidance previously issued in May 2023. Sadly, the guidance continues
I am almost bursting with the anticipation of Global Safety Innovation Summit being held in Wollongong from 13 – 15 Feb. I am so privileged to be sitting on a panel alongside some of the most exciting thought leaders in safety and safety law looking at the intersection of the newest approaches to safety and
We have our Q&A session tomorrow BUT I am going to take the opportunity to have a bit of a look at the latest Safe Work Australia guidance expanding on the Four Principles of WHS (and the problems therein). So come along for a final catch up for 2024. Click here for more details.
Join my session at the Workplace Health & Safety Show in Sydney on 20-21 September 2023. Get ready for two days of live interactive Seminars. Let’s shape a safer work environment together. See you there! Register free today!https://lnkd.in/gc9Xg_Xy
LinkSafe’s “Construction in Mining – Unpacking the WA WHS Regulations” webinar scheduled for Tuesday 22nd August will no longer be taking place, but never fear, it’s still going ahead!Alan Tait and I are preparing the perfect Podcast.Simply hit the link below, fill in your details and it will be sent directly to your inbox.What will be
Please join Harold Downes (gun contractor safety management lawyer) and myself for a free webinar on 12 July 2023 hosted by LinkSafe to unpack and clarify recent guidance issued by Safe Work Australia. Sadly the guidance over simplifies and confuses these principles in respect of contractor safety management. I strongly urge you to join us to ensure
A decision by the Full Bench of the Industrial Commission has shown a chink of light in the bleak landscape of prosecutions in NSW of Principal Contractors for incidents involving specialist contractors.Safework NSW had sought leave to appeal an IRC decision to revoke an improvement notice issued to a Principal Contractor, and internal review decision
Here is a link to an article I wrote in 2022 about the importance of properly prequalifying contractors, the real purpose of doing so and tips to do it well.SueClick here to view
A number of people have contacted me asking for my views on the recent decision by the NSW District Court – SafeWork NSW v Parrish Group NSW Pty Ltd [2023] NSWDC 13 and asking whether I think the decision undermines precedent law confirming the right of a PC to rely on an independent contractor to
I am running the next LinkSafe Legal Professional Development Webinar on 22 March 2023. The session will focus on unpacking critical terms within WHS legislation that define the extent of obligations owed to and by contractors in respect of safety. It is critical to have a clear understanding of these terms as they essentially drive
There is a funny quirk in the WHS Mines Regulations that requires a mine to obtain, assess and accept a contractor safety management plan prior to the contractor undertaking work at the mine. Mmmm so how does this work in the context of the position upheld by the High Court that it is not reasonably