Insurance Considerations for Designers

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Insurance Considerations for Designers

 

Insurance considerations – are you covered?

It is important that designers are aware of what is covered by their insurance policies in relation to Safe Design and WHS legislation.

Professional indemnity insurance will cover the designer for civil or common law claims, but most do not cover criminal prosecutions or fines and penalties which may arise from a breach of WHS legislation.

We suggest designers familiarise themselves with their existing insurance policies and ensure that they’re covered. A few insurers are now including some form of cover for damages and fines in their professional indemnity insurance packages. We advise you ask your insurer about the extent of the cover provided.

When changing insurers, it’s also important that designers request that the retroactive date be set to unlimited to ensure they’re covered for work prior to changing to the new insurer. If a designer retires or ceases to operate, it would be prudent to obtain ‘run off’ cover as the safe design legislation applies for the life of the structure.

Your Safe Design obligations

Duties of designers under safe design legislation

If you’re a building designer, architect, engineer, or other building design professional, we encourage you to enrol in our flexible and convenient ‘Safe Design Online Short Course’. 

It has been designed to assist you understand and practice safe design principles and is endorsed by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA)’s Professional Development.

Need more info, contact us.

Safe Design Legislation & Harmonisation

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Safe Design Legislation and Harmonisation

 

Legislation and Regulation

As a designer, are you fully aware of the work health and safety legislation and regulations in the State or Territory that you practice?

In 2009, Safe Work Australia (SWA), was established to improve work health and safety and workers’ compensation arrangements across Australia. Following a national review into relevant laws across the country, in addition to extensive public consultation, SWA created a model work health and safety (WHS) Act and WHS Regulation endorsed by the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC). The harmonisation of WHS legislation in Australia was proposed to:

  • reduce regulator burdens,
  • protect the health and safety of workers and workplaces,
  • reduce the compliance costs for business, and
  • improve efficiency of regulators.

All states and territories agreed to harmonise their work health and safety laws so each jurisdiction would be similar, however individual state and territory regulators are responsible for adopting and enforcing their own laws. And, designers have a responsibility to ensure they’re meeting the relevant requirements in their individual state or territory.

Understanding the Legislation Framework

The following framework shows how the elements under WHS legislation correlate:


 

  • The Act outlines duties in relation to workplace health and safety including those of designers.
  • Regulations and Mandatory Standards detail the mandatory requirements and provide additional information about how designers can fulfill their duties. Other legislative provisions include the National Construction Code of Australia (NCC) including the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and the building laws in each jurisdiction (state or territory).
  • Codes of Practice (COP) and Non-Mandatory Standards provide guidance on how to implement the legislation. Compliance is mandated unless the same or better is achieved.
  • Standards include Australian and technical standards – some are referred to in legislation (law).
  • Guidance Material include industry-specific safety standards and guidance material produced by the regulators and industry.

 

WHS Legislation and Regulation by State or Territory

The legislation and corresponding regulations in each state and territory in Australia vary slightly. It’s important that designers are familiar with their duties in the state or territory in which they practice. The following table has an overview, with relevant links to help.

State or Territory

 Legislation Regulator and Harmonisation Date
Australian Capital Territory

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT); and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 WorkSafe ACT

Commenced 1 January 2012

 

 

 
New South Wales

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW); and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 WorkCover NSW and SafeWork NSW

Commenced 1 January 2012

 

 

 
Northern Territory

 

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT); and Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011 (NT).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 NT WorkSafe

Commenced 1 January 2012

 

 

 

 
Queensland

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld); and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 Workplace Health and Safety Queensland / WorkCover Qld

Commenced 1 January 2012

 

 
South Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA); and Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 SafeWork SA

Commenced 1 January 2013

 

 

 
Tasmania

 

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas); and Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (Tas)

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

 WorkSafe Tasmania

Commenced 1 January 2013

 

 

 
Victoria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic); and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic).

Consider safety during:

  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning

Excludes:

  • Construction and Demolition stages
  • Residential dwellings (apart from workplaces)
 WorkSafe Victoria

Commencement of National legislation – currently deferred

 

 

 

 
Western Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (WA); and Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (WA).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning

Excludes:

  • Demolition at end of life
  • Residential dwellings (apart from workplaces)
 WorkSafe WA

Commencement of National legislation – currently deferred

 

 

 

 
Commonwealth

 

 

 

 

 

 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth); and Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 (Cth).

Consider safety during:

  • Construction
  • Purpose for which it is designed (Workplaces only)
  • Maintenance, repair, cleaning
  • Demolition

Includes commercial and residential buildings.

Australian Government Comcare

Commenced January 2012

 

NEED MORE INFO? Talk to us.

Duties of designers under safe design legislation

Want to find out more about your Safe Design obligations and how to navigate these in relation to your specific design project? Get in touch! You can also download our FREE EBOOK.

We’ve also developed a great training resource specifically for building designers, architects, engineers, and other building design professionals. Check out our flexible and convenient ‘Safe Design Online Short Course’, designed to assist you understand and practice safe design principles. It’s endorsed by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA)’s Professional Development.

Need more info, contact us.

Bridge building and safe design

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Build a bridge. Get over it.

 

Bridge building and safe design

Over the past few months, bridge construction and safety has been a hot topic – from the tragedy of the Genoa Bridge collapse, to the opening of the longest sea bridge in the world, bridge design is pushing the bar higher and higher. Here’s a snapshot of the recent articles on safe design of bridges.

World’s longest sea bridge opens

Feat of engineering or bridge of death? Designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, the world’s longest sea bridge opened in October, connecting Hong Kong to the mainland of China.

  • $20 billion project.
  • 55kms in length.
  • 18 deaths during construction.

So is it worth it? Full article: ABC News.

Artificial Intelligence for Bridges

New technologies are being developed to provide 24/7 structural health monitoring (SHM) of large structures including bridges, dams and buildings. These systems are now providing at call information on structural health and alerting owners to maintenance needs or other potential hazards and risks.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is being fitted with 2400 sensors to monitor its structural health – to detect damage caused by traffic, wind, temperature, vibration and extreme events. Relying on advancements in technology is great, but this doesn’t reduce the role that the designer has to play in the design and construction of safe structures.

Full article: Queensland University of Technology News.

Record-breaking bridge spans

UK engineers say they’ve created novel bridge designs that could make 5km long spans possible. The engineers have identified bridge concepts that require “the minimum possible volume of material” to create longer bridge spans.

Can they go too far? Is this a bit of a stretch?

Full article: Create Digital.

The Genoa Bridge Tragedy

On 14 August 2018, a viaduct – a major motorway, constructed in the 1960s in the north of Italy, collapsed, killing 43 people. Cars, trucks and people dropped suddenly, crashing to the ground 150 metres below. Sounds surreal in this day and age. But it did happen.

Read more.

 

FIND OUT MORE

Duties of designers under safe design legislation

Safe Design Australia are a team of work health and safety consultants and risk managers that operate throughout Australia and New Zealand to help designers meet their work health and safety legal duties in relation to safe design.

We understand that good design is important and believe that safe design can be achieved without compromising the design intent. Our clients include architects, building designers, developers, design and construct companies, principal contractors, engineers and local government.

Need more info, contact us.

Safe Design Workshops - CHAIR process

Safe Design Workshops

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Safe Design in Practice: Workshops

Safe Design Workshops

Designers can identify hazards to eliminate or minimise risk in design, construction and use of a structure by consulting with other duty holders through formal Safe Design Workshops.

Brainstorming safe designAn early workshop – during the design phase – can involve a brainstorming process where key stakeholders, led by a facilitator, consider potential hazards and evaluate the design.

Subsequent workshops can encourage stakeholders to participate and consult on detailed design issues relating to the construction, maintenance, use for purpose or demolition of the structure being designed.

 

Safety in Design Tool

WorkCover NSW (now known as SafeWork NSW) developed a safety in design tool known as the Construction Hazard Assessment Implication Review Process (CHAIR Process) which uses guidewords as a prompt to promote discussion.

The CHAIR process recommends the use of a facilitator to help guide the process to ensure that there are not any issues that may have been overlooked.

It’s recommended that a diverse range of stakeholders and a systematic methodology is used to significantly reduce the chance of overlooking a major problem.

Who should participate in a Safe Design Workshop?

The hazard categories or guidewords found in the CHAIR Process tool may be useful in assisting the designer or facilitator to guide discussions to identify potential hazards. People that can participate in safe design workshops include:

  • the designer
  • the client
  • project manager
  • design manager
  • engineers
  • maintenance manager
  • principal contractor
  • workers’ representative
  • employer at the workplace or operator
  • plant designers
  • consultant that have an influence on safety decisions (e.g. childcare consultant, acoustic consultant, BCA consultant, fire services consultant)
  • safe design consultant

 

Consultation and Cooperation in Safe Design

Consideration of potential hazards should also be identified and solutions proposed to improve the safety of the structure for when it is used as a workplace. Particularly in relation to:

  • demolition of existing structures;
  • civil and ground works including site layout;
  • construction of structure;
  • use for the purpose for which the structure is designed;
  • maintenance, cleaning and repair of the structure; and
  • demolition at end of life.

Benefits of a Safe Design Workshop Facilitator

The Safe Design Workshop Facilitator should be a person that is sufficiently removed from the design process so that they don’t take any suggestions as criticism or feel the need to defend the design concept.

The designer or facilitator should follow a systematic approach in identifying and discussing potential hazards relating to the design. It’s important to document the discussions and outcomes, including items that require further action so that there is a structured approach to the Workshop.

The Safe Design Workshop may be used to help populate the designer’s risk register which forms part of the safety report.

For further information on safe design workshops refer to the Construction Hazard Assessment Implication Review (CHAIR) Safety in Design Tool, WorkCover NSW.

Talk to us about a Safe Design Workshop

Duties of designers under safe design legislationSafe Design Australia can facilitate workshops for your safe design projects. We’ve developed an effective process for workshops and have conducted workshops from small projects to skyscrapers and complex facilities. We can also facilitate workshops using the CHAIR Process.

If you would like to run your own workshops, we can help you with the tools and training to do this in our Procedures, Templates and Training package.

 

Need more info, contact us.