The WH&S Minefield!! Over the years I have had to evaluate countless WH&S systems that have been presented along with tender submissions or when engaging contractors. Those of you that have shared a similar fate will all have horror stories to recount where you have had to tunnel into a "War & Peace" style document that talks in endless circles of safety but actually says nothing much at all!
Common Sense Prevails! While you might be thinking the
"Federal Government" and
"Common Sense" are mutually exclusive terms, in this case they actually have it right! - The Federal Safety Commission was established in 2005 to provide a comprehensive framework for WH&S in the Construction & Building industry. Rather than make the usual
"knee jerk reactions" the FSC took the time to develop a system based on the following;
The FSC has a list of key points derived from the Work Health & Safety Act 2011.
The Contractors system must state how it will address the key points in a simple and concise action.
The Contractor must be seen to be using their system to address the key points.
The FSC audit will be centered on how well your system works not on the system itself.
This is a seismic shift in WH&S auditing focus meaning that you can't just grab some generic WH&S policy to keep the inspectors happy - you really do need a working system! The big bonus is that once accredited, you don't have to keep jumping through the WH&S hoop at different levels of Government each time you start a project.
To encourage construction companies participation in the scheme the Federal Government has stipulated that wherever a project is part (or fully) funded by Federal grants and the project value is greater than $4M, the the principle contractor must have an FSC accredited WH&S System in place. This $4M benchmark is expected to reduce over the coming years until almost all contractors have FSC accreditation.
This system may seem discriminatory against smaller construction companies but this is not so, it actually levels the playing field by allowing the smaller operators with neat well tailored WH&S systems to tender on larger projects.
