In the upcoming months, SafeWork SA will be focusing their energy on ensuring compliance on residential construction sites, particularly management of working at heights.
This compliance campaign has been initiated due to the significant number of workers who were injured on construction sites last year. There were 77 notifiable serious injuries from falls across South Australia in 2022, 50 of those were in construction and 36 of those 50 incidents were in the residential construction sector alone. It is also estimated that falls, trips and slips are the second leading cause of workplace fatality Australia-wide and the most at-risk occupations are carpentry, roofing and electricians/solar panel installers.
During this compliance campaign, SafeWork SA inspectors will be attending residential construction sites across South Australia to assess their compliance with the relevant work, health safety protocols and legislation.
If you receive a visit from an inspector you can expect the following: they will have a look at your site, speak with the person in control of the workplace, workers or a health and safety manager, they will review your health and safety documentation, and discuss the relevant hazards on site and the controls that should be in place, to prevent accidents and injury.
Now is the time for all employers to refresh their memory of the hierarchy of controls and put in place appropriate controls to eliminate, if not minimize, risk in their workplace.
For more information about the hierarchy of controls and managing risk at height, you can contact the Business Advice Hotline on (08) 8300 0000 (select option 1) and we will connect you with one of our WHS experts.
