WHS Compliance for Construction Companies: A Complete Guide

Understanding PCBU Duties

A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) has a primary duty of care to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and others affected by the work. For construction, this includes managing high-risk work, providing safe plant and equipment, and maintaining safe systems of work.

PCBU duties cannot be contracted away. Principal contractors, subcontractors, and labour hire firms all hold concurrent duties. SmartFormTools helps all parties document their compliance.

Documentation Requirements

WHS regulations require specific documentation for construction work: SWMS for high-risk work, WHS management plans for principal contractors, training records, plant registration, and incident reports. Regulators can request these documents at any time.

SmartFormTools ensures all required documentation exists, is current, and is accessible when needed.

• Safe Work Method Statements for all high-risk work
• WHS Management Plans for projects over $250,000
• High-risk work licences and verification records
• Training records demonstrating worker competency
• Incident reports and investigation records
• Consultation records (toolbox talks, committee meetings)

Principal Contractor Obligations

Principal contractors on construction projects have additional duties: prepare WHS management plans, display site safety signage, manage site access, coordinate overlapping work, and ensure subcontractors have adequate SWMS.

SmartFormTools supports principal contractor workflows with subcontractor SWMS collection, site induction tracking, and coordination registers.

• WHS management plan preparation and maintenance
• Site induction system with sign-in/sign-out
• Subcontractor SWMS collection and review
• Work coordination to prevent concurrent work conflicts
• Emergency procedures and first aid arrangements

Regulator Inspections and Enforcement

WHS regulators conduct both proactive and reactive inspections. Inspectors can enter sites, require document production, interview workers, and issue improvement or prohibition notices. Serious breaches result in prosecution with significant penalties.

Being inspection-ready means having all documentation organised and accessible. SmartFormTools dashboards show compliance status at a glance and export required documents instantly.

• Inspector powers: entry, document requests, interviews
• Improvement notices for compliance issues
• Prohibition notices for immediate risk situations
• Prosecution for serious or repeat breaches
• Penalties reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars

Building a Compliance System

Genuine compliance goes beyond documentation. It requires leadership commitment, worker consultation, continuous improvement, and integration of safety into daily operations. SmartFormTools supports all these elements with workflow automation and analytics.

When safety documentation is easy to create and use, workers actually use it. That is when real protection happens.

• Leadership commitment demonstrated through resource allocation
• Worker consultation and participation mechanisms
• Hazard identification and risk management processes
• Training and competency verification systems
• Monitoring, review, and continuous improvement