Site induction requirements in Queensland

Short answer: it depends on whether the job is housing. WorkSafe Queensland says a person must have a site-specific induction before starting construction work other than housing construction work. On housing it says the induction is not compulsory, but the principal contractor still has to get the site's safety information across.

So the first question on any Queensland job is which side of that line you are on. The second is what you have to do on each side, because "not compulsory" on housing does not mean nothing is required.

Is your job housing construction work?

The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 defines housing construction work as building, extending or structurally altering:

• a detached house
• an attached dwelling separated from its neighbour by a fire-resisting wall, such as a terrace or town house
• a boarding house, guest house or hostel with a floor area of 300 square metres or less

The dwelling must not sit above or below another dwelling, apart from a private garage. Garages, carports and sheds that go with the house are covered too.

Two things fall outside it that catch builders out. Units stacked on top of each other are not housing, so a block of apartments is on the commercial side of the line. And the definition only covers building, extending or structurally altering. Work on a house that is none of those, such as a non-structural fit-out, is not clearly inside it. If you can't tell which side a job falls on, ask WorkSafe Queensland, or run the induction anyway. It takes a few minutes.

Who needs one on a job that isn't housing

On any job that isn't housing construction work, WorkSafe Queensland's position is that every person needs a site-specific induction before they start. It also says anyone entering a part of the site where construction work is happening must either have been inducted or be accompanied by someone who has. That second rule is the one to remember when the engineer or the client turns up for a look.

WorkSafe also says the principal contractor should keep a record of who was inducted and when.

Where the rule comes from

This is worth knowing if anyone ever asks you to point to the law. The phrase "site-specific induction" does not appear in the current Regulation. It comes from WorkSafe Queensland's guidance page, which was last updated in January 2019. The Regulation sections underneath it are about the WHS management plan:

• A construction project is construction work costing $250,000 or more (section 292).
• The principal contractor must prepare a written WHS management plan before work starts, and it must set out any site-specific health and safety rules along with how you will get those rules in front of everyone on site (section 309).
• Before anyone starts construction work on the project, the principal contractor must make sure they know what's in the plan and that they have a right to inspect it (section 310).
• The principal contractor must take all reasonable steps to get a copy of each SWMS before the high risk work it covers starts (section 312).
• The plan has to be kept until the project is finished, and for two years after a notifiable incident connected with it (section 313).

The induction is the practical way to discharge section 310. Below $250,000 there is no management plan, but the duty to give workers suitable and adequate information, training and instruction for the work and its risks still applies (section 39).

What you still have to do on a house

WorkSafe Queensland says that where no site-specific induction is given, it is important that the contents of the principal contractor's construction safety plan are communicated effectively. "Construction safety plan" is the name used under Queensland's earlier regulation. The current one treats an old construction safety plan as a WHS management plan, which tells you the guidance page predates the current wording.

The point stands either way. Nobody is going to accept "induction isn't compulsory on housing" as the answer to why a subbie didn't know about an open trench. What the exemption removes is the formal induction, and the duty to tell people about the site is still yours.

On a house, a short induction is still the cheapest way to show you did that. The difference is that you can keep it light: site rules, the hazards this week, facilities, emergency arrangements, and who to talk to.

The SWMS rule Queensland adds

High risk construction work needs a SWMS before it starts, and in Queensland the SWMS has to take account of the circumstances on the site and, on a construction project, the WHS management plan (section 299).

Queensland also adds a rule the other states don't have. If a SWMS for work with a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres relies only on administrative controls or PPE, it must describe all the control measures that were considered before settling on those (section 299(4)). A SWMS that just says "harness" no longer does the job. The induction is a good moment to check the SWMS you were handed meets it.

The general construction induction card

Queensland now calls the white card a general construction induction training card. Before that it was a white card, and before that a blue card. You get it by completing CPCCWHS1001 with a registered training organisation. WorkSafe Queensland says workers must keep it with them whenever they are on site.

You must not let anyone do construction work unless they have done the training, and anyone who trained more than two years ago must have worked in construction at some point in the last two years (section 317). Someone whose card is on its way can work on the certificate the training provider issued, for up to 60 days. Cards from other states are recognised (section 318).

The card covers construction in general. It tells you nothing about whether the worker knows your site, which is what the induction is for.

Running it on a phone

Foreman's site inductions give each job its own QR code for the gate. Anyone arriving opens the induction on their phone, works through your site documents, adds their card number and signs. The register for that site fills in as they go, with names and dates, which is the record WorkSafe Queensland says to keep.

For a paper version, the free site induction record has the same fields, and the free site induction checklist builder helps you write what goes in it.

Other states

Victoria requires site-specific training by regulation with no housing exemption, and NSW relies on a general duty. See site induction requirements in Victoria and site induction requirements in NSW. The free SWMS and site induction checker covers every state and territory.

For WA, SA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT, see site induction requirements in every state, which compares all eight in one table.

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This page explains general obligations and is not legal advice. For a specific situation, check with WorkSafe Queensland or get advice on your contract.