“Onsite audit results for the last full month of the Hazard 2020 Safety Campaign [September 2021] reinforces that scaffold safety is simply not at the level it needs to be, “ said Federal Safety Commissioner David Denney.

Pleasingly, September Hazard 2020 audit data demonstrated an improvement in five of the six poorest performing WHS Accreditation Scheme requirements in comparison to the previous month. Notably:

• The greatest mobile plant improvement has been ensuring a plant risk assessment is carried out on all items of plant prior to use on-site, with a 7.5 percentage point improvement in corrective action issue rate over the previous three years*.
• Companies have also made significant improvements when ensuring that emergency procedures are established that are specific to the scope of works, which is being issued at 6.9 percentage points lower than the previous three-year average.
• The early improvement identified in August in compliance with Scheme WHS Accreditation Scheme requirements for mobile cranes have continued. Compliance with these requirements has now improved almost 3 percentage points in comparison with the previous three years.

In contrast, scaffolding results continue to show alarming levels of non-compliance with WHS Accreditation Scheme requirements. The most concerning deterioration in scaffolding relates to ensuring structural supports and temporary structures are installed by a competent person and verified as installed correctly in line with legislation, codes of practice, manufacturer requirements and design plans, with a 10.1 percentage point increase in non-compliance compared with the previous three-year average.

The Hazard 2020: October 2020 to September 2021 Update is available now on the Useful Documents and Downloads page.

Throughout the Hazard 2020 campaign the OFSC has published educative materials and held online safety webinars. The webinars have featured key presentations from industry experts, and the growing attendance and follow-up viewings on the OFSC website have shown that builders around the country are keen to improve their standards of safety. The OFSC has published the videos of the fourth webinar, including answers to participants’ questions.

*CAR issue comparison rates are from all Scheme audits 2017-2019.