WHS Systems for Plumbers and the Importance of a Compliant SWMS

Australia’s Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) laws and regulations are amongst the most complex and onerous anywhere in the world.

While there is good reason for this – keeping our people safe at work –getting and keeping compliant with your WHS responsibilities is not getting any easier.

WHS laws apply in the same way to employers ranging from the nation’s biggest contractors to plumbing sole traders, so having an underpinning system in place that small businesses can rely on to protect them from WHS penalties is critical.

For any trade business in Australia, the most fundamental component of such a system is the Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS).

Why Are SWMS so Important?

The WHS Act mandates that any person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) carrying out any high-risk work in connection with a construction project must:

• Ensure a SWMS is prepared before the proposed work starts.

• Ensure the high-risk work is carried out in accordance with the SWMS.

• Ensure that a copy of the SWMS is given to the principal contractor before the work begins.

• Ensure that a SWMS is reviewed and revised if necessary.

• Keep a copy of the SWMS until the high-risk construction work is completed.

Where a serious incident occurs onsite, if each of the above has not been complied with, the business is exposed to serious penalties from WorkSafe Queensland (now known officially as WorkSafe.qld.gov.au). ‘Template’ or ‘off-the-shelf’ SWMS are in most cases not compliant, and so do not provide the protection a business needs to demonstrate they should not be liable for incidents under the WHS Act.

It is critical that a business develops a SWMS per the specific high-risk activities it is faced with on a particular job. MPAQ has a brand-new SWMS builder tool perfect for creating compliant SWMS. Visit www.mpaq.com.au/ services/mpaq-safety to find out more.

So, What Goes in a SWMS?

A SWMS must:

• Identify the work as high-risk construction work.

• Specify hazards relating to the high-risk construction work and risks to health and safety associated with those hazards.

• Describe the measures to be implemented to control the risks.

• Describe how the control measures are to be implemented, monitored, and reviewed.

It is for this reason that template documents are often not compliant or are completely impractical – if a process has not been undertaken to identify all the high-risk work activities on the job, and controls are put in place to manage those activities safety, then the SWMS is not compliant.

MPAQ Safety’s SWMS builder tool takes all the headache out of this for you – all you need to do is answer simple yes and no questions about which high-risk construction activities will be performed on a site and the tool will auto populate and develop a compliant SWMS for you.

We will be taking members through other core elements of the WHS systems and how MPAQ Safety can assist you in developing yours in the coming months. Stay tuned. Visit www.mpaq.com.au/services/mpaq-safety to register for MPAQ Safety.