066 Coral Homes P/L
Submission – Managing Risks In Construction Work Code of Practice
(Preamble)
This Submission is written exclusively from a Housing Industry point of view.
The writer has 40 years experience in Construction covering, Civil, Mining, Marine,
Structural Steel, Commercial High Rise, Rebuild/Renovation (Embassies) and Single
Dwelling Residential Housing both in Australia and overseas. For twenty years, the
writer’s roles have included Site Safety Management in addition to
Supervision/Project Management - and for the last 10 years, Safety Management has
been an virtually exclusive role.
It is of considerable concern that the volume of Legislation and numerous Codes of
Practice that need to be read (and understood) by an ordinary Housing
Builder/Worker, will deter a significant number from firstly reading and even using
these documents – leading to a potential reduction in practical safety on Housing
Sites.
Workers have voiced their concerns that maintaining a complying Safety
Management System and satisfying Auditors, is becoming of more importance than
actually dealing with and promoting practical safety onsite. The more complicated
and difficult it is to deal with Legislation (the wording, the number of documents
needed to be consulted etc) the less likely it is that compliance will be possible. A
normal Housing Industry Builder/Worker, does not have the access to in-house Safety
Professionals that the Commercial Builder/Trade does.
There are basic and distinct differences between Commercial Construction (including
multi-level and multiple dwelling residential works) and Single Dwelling Residential
construction, for example :
Housing
Brick and timber construction
Commercial
Concrete, reinforced core filled block
and structural steel construction
with details and facades in exotic
materials
Similar work in similar locations
One-off work, differing work in vastly
differing locations, with differing
materials
One or two levels
Multiple levels (including high-rise and
below ground works) involving lifts etc
Workforce of two to five persons
on site at a time
Workforce up to several hundred in on
site at one time
One Trade on site at one time
Multiple Trades on site at any one time
Trades that consist of a Sole Trader
Trades that consist of National
Companies with significant resources for
Safety Management and Training
A single Mobile Plant onsite on
four to five separate occasions
Multiple Mobile Plant operating at any
any time over the length of the project
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Av. site area of approx 300 – 400sqm
Site dimensions vary from approx 4000
– 50,000sqm and above
Traffic Management Plans are
generally very basic and simple
Traffic Management Plans can be
very complex and require road closures
It is believed that this Code is relevant to the Commercial Construction Industry,
however, in general, a number of sections and references are not reasonably
practicable for Single Dwelling Residential construction and this will lead to
confusion, misinterpretation and confrontation between Builders, Workers and the
Regulator (something the Industry and the Regulator have worked very hard together
to eliminate over the last few years). In fact, housing itself, is only mentioned twice in
the entire Code – and both instances are purely in reference to another Draft Code,
with no relevant guidance on conducting a business safely on such a small scale as a
Single Dwelling Residential site.
Concerns
Page 6 (1.1)
What is a Construction Project?
From discussions with the Regulators and Industry Bodies in various
States (and also with Safe Work Australia Representatives), it was my
understanding that due to the specific circumstances of a Single
Dwelling Residential site, most of the requirements resulting from
work being classified as a Construction Project could not reasonably
be serviced and therefore, it was not intended that they be included
under this classification.
The $250,000 threshold for a Construction Project is manifestly
inadequate, due to the average cost of building a Single Residence in
SEQld and NSW is currently in excess of $300,000 (refer to Reed
Construction Data – MAT Council Building Approvals 2011). The cost
is even higher elsewhere in Australia. This is expected to rise
significantly with the introduction of this, and other State and Federal
Legislation affecting Construction over the next twelve months.
Using an “un-indexed” dollar value to define a Construction Project
is fundamentally flawed, due to the major differences in construction
and transport costs in different locations, it may be far more relevant to
use a threshold based on the number of workers AND/OR the number
of Trades scheduled to be present onsite at any one time during
construction.
From experience, a typical Commercial or Multi-Residential Project
will have a significant number of workers and multiple Trades working
onsite at the same time. A typical Single Dwelling Residential site will
normally have only one (and rarely, two Trades) onsite at any one
time, with two to three workers present (Roof Tiling and Concrete
works that involve one day on site each, usually will have more).
Therefore, by sheer numbers, the risks involved are dramatically
reduced in Single Dwelling Residential works.
066 Coral Homes P/L
Page 8 (1.2)
Principal Contractor
Where work is deemed a Construction Project, a Principal Contractor
must be appointed. Whilst in general, in Single Dwelling Residential
work, a Principal Contractor is currently appointed, there are several
provisions under this Code that are not reasonably practicable to
comply with on a Single Dwelling Residential site, due entirely to the
extremely limited presence onsite of workers in any number and any
one time and the widely spaced workplaces (for example, a
Commercial Project covering an area of 10,000 sqm may have at least
30 workers, plus Management, onsite at any one time – therefore Site
Meetings, Safety Committees, Tool Box Talks involving all workers
are entirely practicable. A typical Residential Builder may also have
thirty workers “on sites” at any one time. The difference is that a
typical residential site is 400 sqm or less and these workers would be
divided between 15 or more sites, over an area of 1000 sq kilometres
or more – therefore structured Site Meetings, Safety Committees, Tool
Box Talks involving all workers under the guidelines in this Code are
entirely impracticable).
Page 29 (7.1) First Aid
The requirement that all workplaces must have First Aid Provisions
and “should” have access to a trained First Aider and that these are the
(inferred) responsibility of the Principal Contractor is not practicable
on a Single Dwelling Residential site, due to the limited number of
workers present at any one time and the distances between individual
sites. This can be dealt with in an administrative manner but the
inference that because High Risk work is carried out, the Principal
Contractor should employ Health Professionals or Services on each
site (due to the distance between sites) is entirely impractical.
Page 31 (7.3) Emergency Plan
The requirements of the Emergency Plan, whilst pertinent to
Commercial situations, that would be expected to have the personnel
and resources available onsite, are not reasonably practicable in Single
Dwelling Residential works in their inferred context.
Page 35 (8.1) Falls and falling objects
A number of references in this section are entirely relevant to
Commercial construction and could easily be understood to be required
in Single Dwelling Residential works but would not be reasonably
practicable to achieve – eg Perimeter Safety Screens fixed to a
building, Gantries, Hoardings etc
Page 49 (8.10) Lifts and Hoists
Whilst relevant to Commercial works, these items are not used in the
construction of Single Dwelling Residential dwellings and therefore
only serve to confuse those using this Code
Page 51 (8.12) Steel Construction
Whilst relevant to Commercial works, these items are not normally
used in the construction of Single Dwelling Residential dwellings and
therefore only serve to confuse those using this Code
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Page 76
Appendix H – Example 2
The example of Workplace Facilities required for a new single
dwelling are seen to be confusing – the example states this is a “New
Large Residence”, a “Single Dwelling” and a project value of
“$350,000”.
a) With an average cost of building an average house in
SEQld and NSW being over $300,000, it is not likely that
this would be a “large” residence – further reason to
increase/change the $250,000 threshold for the appointment
of a Principal Contractor
b) Eating facilities – this would infer that if Sheltered Public
Facilities are not available, a relocatable building should be
supplied for the worker’s use. Firstly, the number of
workers onsite at any one time ( and indeed, throughout the
entire construction process) would make this financially
untenable and secondly, the small size of the average
residential block would prevent the provision of a
relocatable building within the site boundary (unless other
Legislated site requirements were ignored or Council/State
Bylaws were breached)
Recommendation
It is believed that whilst this Code is eminently pertinent to Commercial Construction
works, many parts of it are unreasonable and confusing when applied to the Single
Dwelling Residential Construction Industry.
It is strongly believed that due to this confusion and uncertainty (of what actually is
relevant and applies to housing), there will be considerable misinformation and
potential for legal action resulting from this and numerous other Codes being applied
to the Housing Industry.
In light of the fact that States have previously cooperated in producing Harmonised
“workable” Legislation, Codes of Practice and guidelines that relate specifically to the
Housing Industry, it is firmly believed that a separate Housing Construction Code of
Practice is now required, that gives relevant and practical guidance to an Industry that
is manifestly different from Commercial Construction.
This Code could encompass all relevant aspects of the Managing Risks in
Construction Code, together with Preventing Falls in Housing Construction, First Aid
and other relevant Codes pertinent to this Industry into one document (instead of the
currently required several Codes that in general do not refer to the specific conditions
and situations found on a Single Dwelling Residential site).
There are several documents already in use that could be easily be combined/
redrafted with reference to the new Harmonised Laws, to base this Code on – for
example:
HIA “LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL SAFE WORK CODE”, Workcover NSW
“ERECTION OF TIMBER ROOF TRUSSES”, Workcover NSW “HOUSING
INDUSTRY SITE SAFETY PACK”
In fact, in light of this Draft Code (Managing Risks in Construction Work) and the
confusion with other Codes, it is my understanding that several Industry Safety
Committees/Forums are currently finding themselves having to actively consider
producing their own “Housing Code” – a single document that encompasses several
of the National Codes and addresses all the required obligations (Consultation, Falls,
066 Coral Homes P/L
First Aid, Facilities etc), that will better serve the Housing Industry to understand and
comply with the New Legislation.
Anthony Lloyd
Safety and Environmental Manager – Coral Homes P/L
066 Coral Homes P/L
Submission – Preventing Falls in Housing Construction Code of Practice
(Preamble)
This Submission is written exclusively from a Housing Industry point of view.
The writer has 40 years experience in Construction covering, Major Civil works,
Mining, Marine Construction, Structural Steel, Commercial High Rise,
Rebuild/Renovation (Embassies) and Single Dwelling Residential Housing both in
Australia and overseas. For twenty years, the writer’s roles have included Site Safety
Management in addition to Supervision/Project Management - and for the last 10
years, Safety Management has been a virtually exclusive role.
It is encouraging that the Housing Industry has been recognised by Safe Work
Australia as a separate entity (in this particular instance) from Commercial
Construction and that the previous confusing situation of having numerous new
“Falls” Codes to refer to in order to “try” to determine what measures and work
systems were required, has now been partially addressed on an Industry specific
basis (it would be even more encouraging if a specific Housing Code were to be
developed, that would address all aspects of this separate Construction Industry,
including managing the risks, facilities, falls, first aid etc, that are all substantially
different from the requirements in the Commercial Construction sector).
Concerns
Scope and application – other Codes
Whilst being useful in addressing the issue of falls specifically within
the housing industry (excellent visual work examples given,
reminiscent of the Workcover NSW Industry Guide) this Code is still
required to be read in conjunction with two other Codes, which can be
cumbersome and confusing at best.
It would prove far more beneficial to incorporate the relevant sections
from those Codes into a single document for the Industry. For
example, there is a written reference to the use of Ladders at the end of
the Code, whereas, the visual examples of the use of ladders in the
“How to Prevent Falls at Workplaces” could have easily been
incorporated. There are a vast number of workers in the Housing
Industry, with very little literacy skills and a visual representation
(even allowing for consultation and guidance from an employer) will
prove far more effective at reaching these workers than text – there is
currently ample room after the “ladder” section in this Code to add
relevant graphics.
Fall Arrest Systems
There should be a reference in this Falls in Housing Code, to FALL
ARREST systems being totally inappropriate for use in Housing
Construction. Generally, there are NO locations on a normal house
frame that are either suitable or certified to accept an anchor for these
systems. The fall heights involved in housing work, would result in an
injury from contact with the ground before these systems could deploy.
The mere reference to the reader being required to refer to the “How to
Prevent Falls at Workplaces” Code for further information, would
likely give the reader the impression that it would be suitable to use
this type of system and could easily lead to “complications” should an
incident occur. There have been numerous occasions in the past, when
the writer has observed workers on a Domestic Roof (eg Solar Panel
Installation) wearing a harness, with the Bungee/ lanyard/Inertia Reel
066 Coral Homes P/L
removed or tied up to the waist band, as there were no suitable anchor
points on a domestic roof to attach it to.
066 Coral Homes P/L
Recommendations
Whilst a Builder (PCBU and/or Principal Contractor) has an obligation to “consult”
and assist other PCBU’s engaged on a site to discharge their own obligations, a
typical PCBU engaged in the Housing Industry has neither the access to training nor
the resources to fully understand their role in safety onsite that a Commercial PCBU
has.
A typical PCBU in the Housing Industry is usually a Sole Trader/Husband and Wife
team or a very small company with only one or two employees, whereas in
Commercial Construction, PCBU’s are generally lager organisations with in-house
Safety Management and Training personnel employed. Therefore, requiring a
“typical” Housing PCBU to fully digest, understand and enact the requirements of
numerous different Codes of Practice (some, as in Falls, requiring several Codes
dealing with the same subject to be read, disseminated and correctly
collated/interpreted) is hopeful at best. The various relevant Draft Codes and
Legislation have been shown to a number of PCBU’s by the writer – in every case,
the PCBU has found this to be difficult to understand and confusing.
As previously stated, a single “Housing Code” (similar to the Managing Risks in
Construction Code, with existing, easy to understand Industry examples being readily
available) dealing with all aspects of safety on a Single Dwelling Residential Housing
site, would go a very long way to maintaining and improving practical safety in such
workplaces.
In general, as a Code in itself, the “Falls in Housing” should be well accepted (with
some minor amendments as detailed above) but could be greatly improved if all the
aspects of constructing a Single Dwelling Residential House (a VERY different
situation and risk profile to Commercial/Civil Construction) could be combined into a
single document that would be far better received, and able to be understood and
implemented by the typical housing PCBU and worker.
Anthony Lloyd
Safety and Environmental Manager – Coral Homes P/L