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 through skylights. For various reasons, no one noticed the skylights during visits by SA Construct to the site before work started. Documents went back and forth between SA Construct and the PC (presumably including SWMS), but no skylights were mentioned. Only once work had started were the skylights noticed, but the SWMS was not updated, and there was an assumption by the SA Construct leading hand that the skylights were safe to walk on (??), and telling workers not to walk on them would be enough (mmm). After the accident, the SWMS was amended.
This case highlights several points. Does the requirement to submit SWMS to a PC add any value – I think not. The practice of preparing SWMS before work starts is flawed and undermines the objective of the HRCW regulations. If we put all our energy, including enforcement activity, into ensuring that the PCBU (contractors) DOING the work consult with workers and prepare/ review SWMS when the work is being done, which, by the way, cannot be done in the real world if the requirement to prepare and submit SWMS to a PC before work starts is to be met, and stopped all this palaver about the collection, and review of contractor SWMS by PC’s, I suspect we would get better real-world safety outcomes. As an aside, the PC for the project was not charged (good – no management or control of the work), and this is not an issue in Victoria, where there is no requirement for a PC to get involved in Contractor SWMS.
Click here to read more
Thoughts?
Cheers
Sue