Site Safety and Construction Business Essentials

Construction site safety has been a wild ride during recent years - especially for small enterprises. Small operators must wrestle with expectations that make no allowance for their relative smaller size. This challenge is always present, and there are vital essentials that never go away.  This month, we thought we’d revisit some of them.  

We'll consider these site safety and construction business essentials:

• Site safety regulations are applied without exception.
• The regulations are always subject to change.
• Business survival and well-placed phone calls.
• The tasks only you can do.
• When tenders overwhelm.

If these or other topics stir you to call, please do. A phone call is still the quickest and most efficient way to get clarity and make a 'best fit' decision. You'll talk with a Safety and Compliance Specialist. We don't have a sales team. The number to call is 1800 304 336. 

Site Safety Regulations are Applied Without Exception

In all but the rarest circumstances, safety standards are the same for everyone, regardless of their ability to meet them. 

However, small businesses lack the skilled personnel, time, money, and other resources required. Even if they understand the specifics of their duty of care, fulfilling their obligations and demonstrating due diligence can be challenging. 

For example, every business is expected to ban LSD (cause it’s a tripping hazard), every roofing company is expected to achieve a perfect record (with not even a shingle accident), and every sparky is expected to wire up perfectly (which is a shocking standard)... :) 

But returning to the matter at hand…

IT IS ESSENTIAL that small businesses be able to comply with their site safety obligations. This is why we're here to help.

Site Safety Regulations are Always Subject to Change

As we said in the intro, recent years have been a wild ride. Significant milestones and complications have been identified, and we've kept you informed. A brief summary follows.

• In 2012, the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) harmonised WHS laws across most states and territories. 
• In 2017, The original 2011 Model WHS Regulations  were revised creating a consistent set of regulations for all jurisdictions. These revised regulations introduced new provisions for psychological health, work-related violence, and bullying.
• In 2018, Codes of Practice (both new and revised) were released, forcing change, especially in areas relating to managing the psychological work environment and handling chemicals.
• In 2019, penalties for WHS breaches were increased to $1 million for individuals and $10 million for corporations, and directors and officers became accountable for WHS breaches, with both fines and imprisonment options introduced. 
• In 2020, the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Industrial Chemicals) Bill 2020 introduced more changes in the area of chemical storage and use. Also, in 2020, we saw the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Silica) Bill 2020 shadow the changes that eventually came down this year, with engineered stone now banned entirely.

Do you know about these, and have you made the adjustments?

If you're an existing customer, you'd have received some timely email notifications over the years, especially when you were still eligible for a replacement/upgrade. If you were a regular blog reader, you'd also have kept abreast of these changes. There have been dedicated articles on AS/NZS 4801 system and coming changes, the implementation of ISO 45001, the psychosocial hazards, the introduction of Industrial Manslaughter laws, and most recently, the threatened and finally enacted engineered stone ban.

IT IS ESSENTIAL that small businesses stay informed of changes. IT IS ESSENTIAL for their resources to keep pace with changes. This is why we're here to help.

Business Survival is Reliant on Well-Placed Phone Calls

You are not alone! In this rugged and ruthless challenge, small business operators need not go it alone. If safety specialists are comfortable calling us, you should feel relaxed about phoning too. 

Site Safety Officer full-timers call us when they:

• Get out of their depth due to some aspect of legislation or specialisation, 
• They have a project-specific issue they haven't trained in or experienced before, or 
• Simple economies of scale mean we can resource them more effectively and affordably than others. 

When the call gets made, both large and small operators benefit from our specialisation, resources and support. 

That said, about 90% of our calls come from smaller players. We offer a lifeline, professional competence, understanding, and a reasonably priced solution for these business operators. Towards the end of these phone calls, many of our customers say they were hesitant before calling because:

1. They felt strangely stupid, as though they should already know the answers, or 
2. They feared they'd get worked over and up-sold by a sales rep.

Of course, when we hear these things, it means our customers feel safe and have overcome those feelings, which is encouraging for us. Our encouragement for you is that those doubts and concerns will pass.

The other expression we often hear is: "I wish I'd called sooner."

IT IS ESSENTIAL to get quality help when you need it. This is why we're here to help.

The Tasks Only You Can Do

While our skills and resources help both large and smaller players, there is a limit to what we can do. 

Our profit on a typical sale is small, so our customer base is broad. While our customers are overwhelmingly loyal, refer us to others, and come back when they need something, big-ticket repeat customers are rare. We're like a boat or tractor seller. We sell the right product with long-term goals in mind, we support its implementation, and our customers move forward — with support, no ongoing fees, no subscriptions, and no buyer's remorse. 

We help our customers compete in the bidding wars, stay safe on the job, keep their sanity in the process, and minimise their site safety-related expenses, but sometimes people expect too much.

Sometimes, people expect us to manage the implementation of resources or ensure their compliance records are complete. But we can't do that! Fortunately, our customers can do this because our systems, plans, and resources empower them to do what only they can. Safety can’t be outsourced in your business, the law doesn’t allow it.

If you want more, you can create a dedicated employee role, or you might contract a consultant. Again, unfortunately, we can't be that person. 

We often go the extra mile in our support and service - but there must be a limit. 

IT IS ESSENTIAL that you understand both where we can help and what only you can do. This is why our resources are so well designed and our support is so thorough. 

When Tenders Overwhelm

Beyond the usual tender inquiries, we often hear from customers who are unsure what document to attach to their tender submission or who are wrestling with a contractor management portal.

Common problems include:

• Principal Contractors that try to delegate away their responsibility or fail to prioritise site safety.
• Confusion about safety management systems versus safety management plans (as discussed last month).
• Confusion caused by pursuing what is cheapest versus what will be most effective.
• Questions that use misleading language (also mentioned in last month's article).
• Confusion around the particulars of different documents, policies or procedures.  
• Demands for documentation without clearly stating which ones are needed.
• Complicated and poorly designed web portals.
• Principal Contractors being a jerk!

We can't fix the 'jerk factor, ' but we can help with almost everything else. Your competitiveness will undoubtedly be enhanced if you align yourself with our prioritising and standards, obtain and implement the right resources, and listen to our explanations and suggestions. 

The people who purchase complete systems naturally find this easier. Having all the resources at your fingertips is better than a piecemeal DIY and compromised approach. It is true that some small to medium enterprises find the idea of an entire system overwhelming, but again, that's why we're here.

IT IS ESSENTIAL to stretch yourself a bit when it comes to tendering and meeting the site safety aspects of tender documents. This is why we are here to help. This is how we help you compete.

Wrapping Up

Site safety, safety documentation, systems, plans, and the compliance crunch can be overwhelming. We get it. We have rugged seasons, too, because we live in those regulatory weeds every working day! The difference is that we know how to live in the weeds. 

Stick to what you're good at, and in the other areas, align yourselves with somebody who will provide support if you need it. As I often tell customers, "Everyone is safer when I'm not driving your excavator, and everyone is safer when using our resources." It's about everyone doing what they do best.