Workplace health & safety compliance now a bigger risk for construction industry

Brisbane, 18 September 2007: Having an integrated system for compliance with workplace health and safety obligations has become more critical for those engaged in the construction industry, with many more entities facing the risk of prosecution under new laws, a leading workplace relations lawyer at national law firm Clayton Utz warns.

Hedy Cray, a Workplace Relations partner in Clayton Utz' Brisbane office, says that changes to workplace health & safety laws in Queensland which came into effect in July have propelled workplace health and safety compliance in the construction industry to a new level of risk management awareness, requiring a more integrated approach to ensure each key stakeholder can meet their individual responsibilities.

Under changes to the Workplace Health & Safety Act 1999 (Qld), a broader range of entities is now legally responsible for ensuring the health and safety of persons on construction sites, including project managers, principal contractors, designers of structures and "clients". Manufacturers and suppliers of substances and erectors and installers of plant are also caught.

Ms Cray says the inter-relationship of many of the obligations of these individuals requires a greater level of awareness around workplace health and safety obligations of all those involved in construction projects.

"Previously, the main workplace health & safety responsibilities rested with the owner of a construction site and principal contractor. Now, a range of parties involved in construction work has obligations to ensure the workplace health & safety of those around them.

"Companies and individuals cannot contract out of their workplace health and safety responsibilities so how they structure their compliance systems and how they enforce them has a critical impact upon compliance and the ability to discharge their obligations," said Ms Cray.

A "client" is a new concept under the Act and is defined as a person who "commissions the construction work and engages a project manager to plan and manage the construction work or appoints a principal contractor to manage and perform the construction work".

Under the new laws, "clients" are under a strict obligation to maintain an active interest in the project and to provide advice, feedback, and support to other stakeholders.

Project managers and principal contractors also have broader obligations, including ongoing reporting of health & safety aspects of the project and identifying all potential hazards that may affect the health & safety of all individuals on the site.