Who is the principal contractor
The model WHS Regulations define a construction project as one involving construction work that costs A$250,000 or more. Each construction project has one principal contractor: the business that commissions the project, or a business it appoints as principal contractor and authorises to manage or control the workplace.
Victoria works under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and its 2017 regulations, which set their own principal contractor rules, including an A$350,000 threshold and a health and safety coordination plan.
The WHS management plan
Before work on the project starts, the principal contractor must prepare a written WHS management plan for the workplace. It sets out:
- the names, positions and WHS responsibilities of people with specific responsibilities
- how consultation, cooperation and coordination between the businesses on site will work
- how WHS incidents will be managed
- the site-specific WHS rules, and how people will be told about them
- how SWMS will be collected, assessed, monitored and reviewed
Keeping the plan alive
Everyone who works on the project must be told about the plan and their right to see it, and it must be kept up to date as the work changes. A copy is kept until the project is finished, or for at least two years after a notifiable incident on the project.
SWMS, signs and site security
The principal contractor must take all reasonable steps to get a SWMS before any high risk construction work starts, and to make sure the work follows it. It also has specific duties for the site as a whole, including:
- signs showing the principal contractor's name, a phone number that is answered after hours, and where the site office is
- securing the workplace
- facilities, first aid and an emergency plan for the site
- traffic management, storage of materials and the movement of plant
- essential services and the risk of falls
Every business on site keeps its own duties
Being principal contractor does not take duties away from anyone else. Every subcontractor still has its own primary duty of care under the WHS Act, and every business with a duty for the same work must consult, cooperate and coordinate with the others.
WHSComply holds the WHS management plan's moving parts on the project file: who is responsible for what, inductions on the site rules, SWMS review, incidents and the consultation records that show the businesses on site worked together.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is there always a principal contractor?+
Only on a construction project, which under the model regulations means construction work costing A$250,000 or more. On smaller jobs there is no principal contractor, but every business still has its own WHS duties.
Can the client be the principal contractor?+
The business that commissions the project is the principal contractor unless it appoints another business to the role and gives it management or control of the workplace, which is how most builders become principal contractor.
Does Victoria use the same rules?+
No. Victoria has its own OHS Act and regulations, with a different threshold and a health and safety coordination plan. Check the Victorian regulations for a Victorian project.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with the WHS regulator in your state or territory, or your own adviser.