VicRoads
SECTION168OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT
168.01OUTLINE
The management of Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) by the Contractor is a key requirement of the Contract. The objectives are to:
•provide and maintain a safe work environment;
•provide and maintain safe plant, systems of work, safe access and egress;
•provide for safety and health in the use, handling, storage or transport of plant or substances;
•provide suitable instruction, training and supervision; and
•provide and maintain adequate facilities.
168.02GENERAL
Where the Contract Sum exceeds $350,000 (inclusive of GST), for the purposes of Part5.1 Subdivision2 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 (Vic), the Corporation:
(a)appoints the Contractor as the 'principal contractor' for the construction work performed on its behalf, and the Contractor accepts appointment as the ‘principal contractor’;
(b)authorises the Contractor to manage or control the Site to the extent necessary to discharge the duties imposed on a 'principal contractor' under this Subdivision.
The Contractor shall discharge and perform the responsibilities and functions imposed upon a 'principal contractor' under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations2007 (Vic).
The Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining all necessary approvals and for the co-ordination, implementation and other arrangements associated with site safety.
Where the Contractor, and others engaged by VicRoads, are carrying out work on a site, the Superintendent will arrange coordination of the parties to ensure that the relevant safety issues are reviewed and that all appropriate measures are implemented. When requested by the Superintendent, the Contractor shall attend any such meetings convened by VicRoads for the purpose of reviewing OH&S matters relative to the conduct of the work.
Where differences of opinion arise between the Contractor and VicRoads over the adequacy of any safety provision, the WorkSafe Victoria shall be requested to resolve the issue.
## (the following paragraph applies where the work under this Contract is Federally funded to the extent that the National Building Code applies and the contract value is $4million or more - strikethrough for all other projects)
:The Contractor must maintain accreditation under the Australian Building and Construction WHS Accreditation Scheme (the Scheme) established by the Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012 (FWBI Act)while building work (as defined in Section 5 of the FWBI Act) is carried out. The Contractor must comply with all conditions of Scheme accreditation.
168.03THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CO-ORDINATION PLAN
The Quality Plan for the works shall include the Contractor’s requirements for the management of occupational health and safety during the various stages of the work under the Contract.
The Quality Plan shall incorporate these requirements as a Health and Safety Co-ordination Plan (HSCP) that shall demonstrate for each stage of the Works as a minimum compliance with the requirements of the Occupational Health and SafetyAct (2004), its Regulations and the requirements of this Specification and the ‘Health and Safety Co-ordination Plan Checklist’ located in the appendices of this Specification and shall include but not be limited to:
(a)procedures and responsibilities for the preparation, implementation and verification of the HSCP and thereafter for its monitoring and amendment, including requirements to ensure appropriate consultation within the meaning of part 4 of the OH&S Act;
(b)procedures and responsibilities to ensure that all personnel involved with the preparation and implementation of the HSCP are appropriately trained, experienced and supervised;
(c)procedures to ensure that the public is not exposed to any health or safety risks/hazards as a result of the Contractor’s operations;
(d)a procedure for securing and arrangements for managing the site and immediately reporting to the Superintendent and WorkSafe any -
(i)accident or incident affecting health and safety of any person, including, but not limited to incidents prescribed under the Occupational Health and Safety Act legislative requirements,
(ii)Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN) issued by an OH&S Representative;
(e)a procedure for immediately reporting to the Superintendent any statutory notices, directions or recommendations from WorkSafe, including but not limited to Field Reports, Improvement Notices, Infringement Notices and Prohibition Notices;
(f)a procedure relating to work in the vicinity of services (both overhead and underground). The procedure shall include the following elements –
(i)underground services to be proved by appropriate methods which may include excavation,
(ii)a request for the appropriate service authority/owner to attend the site,
(iii)formats for the identification of the location of underground services;
(g)a list of names, positions and responsibilities of all persons who will have specific responsibilities for health and safety including the name of a person, directly responsible to the Contractor’s senior management, who has the defined responsibility for ensuring implementation of the HSCP;
(h)emergency contacts including emergency services and other relevant authorities, and procedures to ensure after hours attendance at the site in the event of an emergency;
(i)any site safety rules, with the arrangements for ensuring that all persons at the workplace are appropriately supervised and informed of the site safety rules including a site induction and training plan to ensure that all site personnel, including subcontractors, are aware of how the HSCP is to be implemented, including any possible emergency response procedures. The plan shall include personnel to be trained, training objectives, induction procedures and instruction on safe work method statements;
(j)the arrangements for ensuring that all persons at the worksite are appropriately trained and supervised;
(k)the arrangements for the co-ordination of the health and safety of persons engaged or employed in connection of the Works;
(l)the arrangements to ensure that subcontractors comply with the requirements of the HSCP;
(m)checklists to verify compliance with relevant standards and statutory requirements;
(n)the requirement for all personnel to wear fluorescent high visibility jackets and other appropriate safety equipment at all times on the site;
(o)procedures for trenching and excavation work when required.
168.04RISK / HAZARD ASSESSMENTS
The Contractor shall undertake a risk/hazard assessment of each site/ work activity to determine the risks and treatments required to eliminate, or significantly reduce so far as is reasonably practicable, those risks/hazards. The details of the risk/hazard assessment shall be recorded as Safe Work Method Statements, highlighting Statements that are for ‘high risk construction work’ and copies are to be submitted with the HSCP to the Superintendent. The Safe Work Method Statements and Health and Safety Co-ordination Plans shall be available on site for the duration of the works to enable audit and surveillance to be conducted.
168.05HEALTH AND SAFETY CO-ORDINATION PLAN AND DECLARATION
(a)HSCP Preparation
The Contractor shall be responsible for the preparation, implementation and other arrangements associated with the Health and Safety Co-ordination Plan (HSCP). The HSCP shall include, as a minimum, the requirements of the HSCP Checklist as included in the appendicesof this Specification.
The HSCP shall consider any other Contract specific requirements identified elsewhere in the Specification.
(b)HSCP Review
The Contractor shall arrange for a review of the HSCP by a person whohas had no involvement in the development of the original Contractor’s HSCP and who meets all the requirements listed on the HSCP Declaration as included in the appendices of this Specification.
The Contractor shall incorporate the recommendations of the Review into the HSCP to the satisfaction of the reviewer such that the reviewer endorses the HSCP by signing the HSCP Declaration.
(c)HSCP, Declaration and VicRoads Checklist
HPThe Contractor shall, not less than 5 working days prior to commencing work, submit to the Superintendent:
(i)a reviewed Health and Safety Co-ordination Plan; and
(ii)a signed HSCP Declaration by an OH&S consultant/advisor that the HSCP meets all the necessary requirements. The Declaration shall be in accordance with the proforma included in the appendices of this Specification.
(iii)a completed VicRoads HSCP Checklist with Contractor’s responses for each checklist item requirement.
Any amendment(s) to the HSCP after submission of the signed Declaration or items graded ‘review’ shall be referred to the Contractor’s OH&S consultant/advisor for assessment and written confirmation that the HSCP Declaration is still endorsed and remains valid.
168.06SURVEILLANCE AND AUDITS BY THE SUPERINTENDENT
The Superintendent will arrange surveillance and audits to ensure that the Contractor is complying with the Health and Safety Co-ordination Plan.
The Contractor shall, upon being given reasonable notice by the Superintendent, make or arrange to be available all facilities, documentation, records and personnel, including those of any subcontractors, that are reasonably required for surveillance and audits to be undertaken.
Notwithstanding that VicRoads may have previously undertaken audits and/or surveillance of a subcontractor's HSCP/Safe Work Method Statement in connection with other work, the Contractor shall include the operations of all such subcontractors in the Contractors’ Health and Safety Coordination Plan.
VicRoads will carry out audit and surveillance of the work of all subcontractors as it sees fit, in the same way that it may carry out audit and surveillance of all work done and materials supplied by the Contractor. The Superintendent may for this purpose have recourse to audit and surveillance carried out for other VicRoads contracts. Copies of any such audit and surveillance reports used by the Superintendent will be provided to the Contractor.
168.07CONTRACTOR SIGNAGE AT WORKSITES
(a)General
In accordance with Occupational Health and Safety Regulations2007 Part5.1 – Construction, Clause5.1.15, the Principal Contractor at a worksite shall place signs ‘that are clearly visible from outside the work place where the construction work is being performed, showing the name and contact telephone numbers of the principal contractor’.
No separate payment will be made for the provision, erection, maintenance and removal of Principal Contractor signs.
(b)Sign Design and Materials
The design and materials for Principal Contractor signs shall conform to and include the following:
•black text on a white background;
•background to be non-reflective or, at most, Class 2;
•lettering in a series C font and complying with AS1744Standard alphabets for road signs;
•text size to be 80 to 140 mm high for freeways and 40 to 100 mm high for all other roads;
•the company name or trading name;
•the company phone number preceded by a pictorial representation of a phone or ‘Tel.’;
•the display of a company logo which is optional; and
•the sign size should be appropriate for the text size and Contractor details.
(c)Sign Placement
Principal Contractor signs shall be placed clear of traffic management devices and shall not interfere with other signage.
If there is a clear entry point to the work area these signs shall be located adjacent to said entry point; if there is no clear entry point these signs shall be located at the start of the work area.
(d)Sign Display
Principal Contractor signs shall be clearly visible and displayed for the duration of the works and maintained in good condition.
For works consisting of maintenance activities and/or where work areas may be constantly moving, Principal Contractor signs must be clearly displayed on work vehicles. Signs displayed on work vehicles need not comply with the sign design and materials specified above but should be clearly legible from a distance of 40metres.