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BUILDING CONNECTION Spring 2019
P
erhaps a law degree should be
a prerequisite for a scaffolding
licence!
In order to make any sense of where
scaffolding stands in the country’s
overall legal and regulatory frameworks,
it helps to think of scaffolding as
primarily a health and safety apparatus,
not a building product or accessory.
As such, consider the following
administrative stepping-stones (as
listed in Table 1), which zigzag their way
through all Federal and State/Territory
bureaucracies on an epic journey
towards scaffolding compliance.
The journey is long and hard:
∫ The national statutory authority
Work Safe Australia oversees
Commonwealth work, health and
safety (WHS) laws.
∫ Each State and Territory has its
own health and safety laws, based
on its own interpretation of the
Commonwealth laws.
∫ SafeWork-style regulators within
each State and Territory manage,
implement and uphold their own
respective health and safety laws.
∫ Each State and Territory regulator
has its own set of health and safety
regulations and inspectorates.
∫ Each set of State and Territory
regulations references its own Codes
of Practice. (The relevant Code of
Practice relating to scaffolding
in most (but not all) States and
Territories is typically described
as, ‘Managing the risk of falls at
workplaces’ or similar.)
∫ Each Code of Practice references
Australian/New Zealand Standards.
∫ The main Australian/New Zealand
Standards relating to scaffolding are
AS/NZS1576 Part 1: Scaffolding –
general requirements, as well as AS/
NZS4576: Guidelines for scaffolding.
∫ The use of scaffolding is not
‘mandatory’ per se according to
any construction-based criteria.
However, if scaffolding is selected as
the appropriate means of upholding
State or Territory health and safety
regulations, then it must adhere to
that jurisdiction’s Code of Practice(s)
and all referenced Australian/New
Zealand Standards.
ONE NATIONAL MODEL?
In light of the above complex State and
Territory-based laws and regulations, the
obvious question is: Why not simply adopt
one set of national health and safety
regulations for the whole country?
Surely a scaffold in Perth operates in
the same way as a scaffold in Sydney
or Townsville. And surely the same
safety standards apply equally to all
Australians…
COVER STORY
SCAFFOLDING
SCAFFOLDING SAFETY IN AUSTRALIA IS BASED ON MULTI-TIERED, MULTI-
JURISDICTIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS, AS WELL AS A COMPLEX ARRAY OF
AUSTRALIAN/NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS! ARE OUR OVERWEIGHT SCAFFOLDING
REGULATIONS SHAKING THEMSELVES APART?
JOHN POWER REPORTS.
SCAFFOLDING
REGULATIONS