Housing construction ongoing compliance issues

In November 2020, we reported on the main issues inspectors were finding on residential construction sites. These were uncontrolled risks of falls from height, electrical safety and site security. So far this year, our inspectors are not seeing an improvement.

During a three-week period earlier this year, work health and safety, and electrical safety non-compliance issues were identified on 97 per cent of residential construction sites visited.

Inspectors found 71 non-compliance issues and issued 59 enforcement notices. The remaining non-compliance issues were rectified there and then while the inspectors were onsite.

The main areas of non-compliance continue to be with basic safety issues. These include:

• housekeeping
• site security
• electrical safety—switchboards, testing and tagging and lead management
• falls from heights
• scaffolding.

During 2020, inspectors engaged with over 700 contractors working on residential construction sites. About 1000 enforcement notices were issued and another 300 non-compliances were immediately rectified. We will maintain our focus on these issues throughout 2021. So now is the time to get back to basics with safety.

Further information

Find out more about safety in construction industry.