Building and Construction in Australia: WHS, Contractors, and Duties

This report provides a comprehensive overview of workplace health and safety (WHS) laws in Australia, examining their relationship to construction companies and emphasizing the importance of compliance. It defines subcontractors, categorizing them into nominated, domestic, and named types, and outlines the duties imposed on individuals to ensure health and safety in the workplace. The report details essential components of contractor agreements, including confidentiality, information sensitivity, and avoidance of bribery and misrepresentation. It specifies the scope of work for a contractor carpenter in Queensland, covering structural, installation, and renovation tasks. Furthermore, the report identifies duty holders in a workplace and lists the responsibilities of workers concerning safety protocols and reporting. Finally, it outlines the qualifications required for a contractor carpenter in Queensland, referencing the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) and the necessary licenses and technical qualifications according to QBCC regulations.

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
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QUESTION ONE
How do the WHS laws in Australia relate to the company?
Workplace health and safety laws that are found in Australia that changed on the 1st January
2012 have gradually harmonized across Australia. WHS consist of a set of rules that is the codes
of conducts that highlight different roles that the public, as well as the worker, has to abide
during their contact in the place of work. The main purpose of these WHS law across Australia
as per the Queensland work safety and health act of 2011 is to protect the health and enhance
safety as well as welfare of the members of the public. This is achieved together with the
workers thereby ensuring that no worker is exposed to any risk in the work projects. Therefore,
there is a need of complying with these WHS laws to enhance understanding the compliances
code to help in a practical direction to members of the public as well as workers that have
particular duties and obligation to be upheld. There are eight codes compliance to comply with to
give proper information that includes
 Space which is confined
 First aid must be provided in the place of work
 Ensuring a better working environment as well as workplace amenities
 Ensuring that health occupational and safety are communicated across the
languages
 Ensuring that all generation construction falls are prevented
 Ensuring that foundries are in place
 Allow the management of asbestos within the place of work

 Allow the removal of asbestos in the working place
Therefore, in accordance with the business area as enforced by WHS which cover all business
areas to help in determining the injuries and illness to people in the places of work. Thus it is
considered as very crucial for an employer to implement WHS laws appropriately so as to help
the business in informing the employee's policies as well as the procedure that they should use to
meet the standards before the business is informed. When the business applies all the Australian
WHS laws in most of the business areas thus ensuring that any unwanted cost is avoided and
even the damages that may occur as a result of illness and injuries in the place of work.
Therefore, WHS laws have provided the industry with a strong foundation thus achieving the
maximum level of the business outcome.
Question one
Who is a subcontractor?
A subcontractor is a person though in many business cases is an individual that is allowed to sign
a contract in order to perform a port or a full obligation of the contract of another. Therefore, a
subcontractor may be a company or a person hired by the main contractor to do a specific duty as
a part of the whole project and being paid normally in consideration of the service that is
performed to the project through the originating general contractor. Whereas the concept of a
subcontractor is mostly used in building works as well as in civil engineering, as the
subcontractor opportunity range is very wide and therefore the possibilities of having a greater
number operating in the information technology as well as the sector of business
information(Armstrong, Gomes and Struth 2016).
Types of the subcontractor.

There are three types of subcontractors, these are
 Nominated subcontractor: this is the one who is nominated according to the contract
architect permit as well as the supervising officer so as to reserve the final selection right
as well as during the subcontractor's approval. The permission is given to the main
contractor to make a profit when using the nominated subcontractor to perform their
duties. This ensures a direct relation between the client and subcontractors.
 Domestic subcontractor: there is a subcontractor having the main contractor as a supply
and even fix material or goods as well as executing the work thus forming part of the
major contractor.
 Named subcontractor: this also may have a similar meaning with the domestic
subcontractor though named subcontractor is one who contracts the major contractor in
order to supply or fix good as well as material or even execute duties thus forming part of
the main contract. In most cases, this contractor is an employee of the main contractor.
Question two
What are the duties imposed on a person which ensure health and safety in the workplace?
 The duties that are imposed on the individual that ensure that the health, as well as safety,
are put in place in the workplace consist of the following;
 Engaging workers by undertaking their work for them especially by influencing them
directly or indirectly to so that their cam performs their duties.
 May put others on the risk of undertaking or performing their duties
 Must engage in managing or controlling fixtures/workplace and even the workplace
fixtures and plants.

 Engage in designing, manufacturing, importing and even supplying plant, structure or
substances that are being used in the workplace.
 Help in installing, constructing or commissioning the structures or plant in the place of
work.
Question two
Things addressed in contractor agreement includes
Confidentiality: There should be a surety that the terms of the contract are only between the
parties involved.
Information sensitivity: Sometime the contract may only require sensitive information regarding
the business so as to compare the business information of both parties to help in handling the
information such as unavoided customer data as well as ensuring the addition of non-poaching
agreement to the contract(Zuo and Zhao 2014).
Bribery: It is very crucial to make a conscious effort in order to avoided bribery meaning that
the bribery should not be accepted so to stop active bribery.
Hyperbole: It should be ensured that all misdirection as exaggeration is avoided therefore any
agreement that is based on false information to be considered invalid.
Advice: Pieces of advice should be received from a lawyer before signing the contract.
The mistaken agreements: Not only a written and signed contract are the only ones considered
as binding but also the oral agreement like the phone ones and even email messages are bindings

Question Three.
Scope of work for a contractor carpenter in Queensland
The scope of work includes the following;
 Constructing and erecting structures of the roof and wall framing of steel and timber
 Construction and erection of internal partition walls of non-loadbearing
 Erection of subfloor framing and ceiling
 Construction of stair made of timber
 Sheet flooring and timber installation
 Metal roofing installation
 Fixing process of moldings, panels and internal linings
 Locking windows and doors installation
 Restoration and renovation of frames windows and doors
 Fitments installations
 Simple form concretion such as concrete, formwork and reinforcement installation
 Erection and striping of formwork such as the forms of slip and jump formwork
Question three
Who are the duty holders in a workplace?
The duty holders according to the Australian WHS law, duty holders are individual having
responsibility in ensuring the safety of an organization or even a group of people. even though
everyone is expected to play a good role in giving health and safety first priority in the place of
working. WHS, as well as Work Health and Safety Regulations of 2011, encourage that an

individual is given duty in order to maintain safety and health, therefore a duty holder has a very
crucial duty in preserving safety and health in the time of an emergency in the workplace. Work
Health and Safety Act 2011 as well as Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 give duty
holders a mandate of ensuring that safety and health are managed by eliminating risks for safety
and health using a reasonable practice (Lu, Cui, and Li 2016).
Question 4
List Duties of a worker.
It is the responsibility of a worker to alert the employer of any suspected action which is not in
proper condition. In most cases accident in the places of work may happen due to the behaviors
of human employees are included. These accidents are caused by rushing to a job, taking chances
and even cutting corners. Therefore, an employee should be aware of these bad accidents and
check for any necessary avoidance (Lu et al.2017).
Most employees always think that it is an employer’s duty to check on their safety, welfare as
well as heath. though according to the law employer does have very many duties as well as the
employees including the temporary one even part-time duties without regarding the type of
employment or even a contractual arrangement that they may engage.
Therefore, the duties of a worker include.
 A worker should adhere to any relevant law as well as ensuring that their health and
safety are protected and even the health and safety of anybody who may be challenged by
their action as well as their work omission (Hong et al.2015).

 A would have to ensure that there is no any intoxicant that may influence them to ensure
that any danger during their performance is controlled.
 An employee should enhance their cooperation with other employees regarding work
welfare, safety as well as their health.
 A worker should not engage in any conduct which is not proper to ensure that their own
safety, as well as health, is not endangered as well as endangering the life of others.
 An employee should participate in any health and safety training that an employer may
offer.
 A worker should ensure that all the machinery, tools as well as the other substances are
properly used these include good use of all personal protective equipment that is given to
be used during their work.
Employees should report in case of any equipment at workplace defect that may be considered to
endanger their health as well as their safety
Question 4
Qualifications for a contractor carpenter in Queensland
The body of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) administers the
industry of building and construction in Queensland. It is purposely for issuing a license to the
contractors of the buildings as well as the occupants. The department of public works and
housing in Queensland is accountable for the development as well as the implementation of the
Queensland building and construction commission legislation and policies(Motawa and
Almarshad 2013).

The contractor carpenter according to the act of Queensland Building and Construction
Commission should have access to the following licenses;
 Contractor license that enables the contractor to conduct the building operation.
 Supervisor of the nominee which enables the contractor to offer services related to
supervisory of the building operations within the company and perform the required
functions of a nominee as per the requirement of the act.
 Supervisor of the site which enables the contractor to solely supervise the construction
process that takes place within the scope of the company or as per the license issued to
the contractor.
 The license for occupational fire protection – this provides the contractor with the
authority to solely conduct supervision on the protection of risk of fire in the workplace.
The technical qualifications that are required for a contractor carpenter in Queensland are in
classes as per the regulation of the QBCC are under different schedules, that is, schedules 2 and
schedules 3. The classes of licenses in Schedule 2 has technical qualifications that similarly
apply to the license of the contractor, license of the nominee supervisor or the license of the site
supervisor if and only if there are specifications made(Wang et al.2013). An individual that is in
need of a license concerning carpentry, for example, will have to meet the qualifications
mentioned at some parts of the document without considering if the application made was for
nominee supervisor, contractor or for the license of the site supervisor carpentry(Eadie et al.
2013). The licenses, however, do not bear the same qualifications for both the license of a site
supervisor and that of the nominee supervisor.

The contractor should also get hold of the licenses that bear the technical qualifications as per the
regulation of the QBCC which include nominee supervisor, a contractor as well as site
supervisor licenses.
Question 5
Qualifications required for a contractor for tiles and walls in Queensland
On-time delivery
Generally, delays are expensive events in the construction industry. The deadlines are not
supposed to be negotiable. The contractor should, therefore, be able to meet the specified
deadlines for the specific work. This is the main reason for conducting research in order to
establish track records of the contractors. The contractors that have records of complaining
customers for delays or missed deadlines are never considered for urgent tasks in Queensland.
Recommendations and Reputations
One of the most valuable assets of any contractor is the reputation. Contractors are expected to
have a reliable and honest reputation. This will be a symbol of appraisal of quality work.
Communications
In the processes of the construction, there will be decision making and finalization of matters
within the specified deadline some of which will be very urgent. This implies that one of the
essential requirements, my that a contractor must have from the start of the work to the finish is
open communication.
Quality of Work

Builders who are meticulous are good. This quality must be possessed by the contractors.
Complete project examination is usually regarded as the best way of assessing the work quality.
Services of the Customer
A contractor is expected to satisfy the client needs of tile work and wall system management
effectively.
Question 5
The consequences of non-compliance with the requirements of health and safety
Most of the individuals which are represented in courts are due to failure to comply with the
legislation of health and safety and are charged by the Federal police or the Victoria police that
are in charge of the criminal offending in Australia. The companies of the individuals are mainly
charged with the work safe offenses as well as the legislation of Health and Safety for the
breaches. In spite of the numerous visits on the work site by the work safe, it has been
recognized that most of the charges result after the occurrence of the accident at the workplace.
The act of the OHS common breaches can be due to failure to provide a safe condition of work
by the employer or failure in the provision of proper training, information, instruction or may be
supervision.
Regardless of breaching the obligations by the employer to the employees can only be revealed
after proper analysis of the evidence developed by the investigators of the Work safe. There
uniqueness in the workplace as well as the fixed circumstances which makes it very vital to
incorporate highly experienced solicitors.
Question five

The legal obligation of an employer in relation to consultation.
In the OSH law, the employer is given a responsibility to provide a safe workplace. These
include
 Ensure that the place of work is very free from known hazard as well as adhering to the
laws, standard and the issues of regulation as indicated in the OHS law.
 An employer must have examined the working place to ensure that the condition match
with the OSH standard.
 The employer must have the absurdity that the employees have as well as a useful tool
and even equipment that are free from any danger and even are maintained properly.
 An employer can engage in using poster, color code, signs as well as labels to warn the
employees against any potential hazard (Latiffi et al.2013).
 An employer should ensure that the operating procedure is established as well as updated
before communicating them to the employees for adherence to health and safety
requirement.
 Engage employees in safety training in a language that can be understood by the
employees.
 Employees that engaged in duties those are not good for their health like hazardous
chemical within the place of working to be developed and be implemented in a written
hazard communication program as well as training the employees that are exposed to
those hazards and even exposing them to a proper precaution to the hazards.
 Ensuring that the employees are given medical examination as well as providing training
as per OSHA standard requirements.