Australian Work Health and Safety Principles
Who holds which duty on a multi-employer site, where SWMS and site rules fit, why the White Card is separate, and how consultation works at a pre-start.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Part of Manual Handling Training for Construction and Trades Workers
Key learning points
- Describe the general duties of principal contractors, subcontractors, sole traders and workers
- Explain where manual handling controls belong in a SWMS
- Understand that general construction induction (the White Card) is separate from this training
- Recognise how consultation happens on site and why it matters
- Recognise that requirements can differ between states, territories and sites
Shared responsibility on a construction site
Australian work health and safety law is built on shared responsibility. The organisation running a business — the person conducting a business or undertaking, or PCBU — holds the primary duty to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. On a construction site there are usually several PCBUs at once: the principal contractor, each subcontracting company, any labour hire firm and every sole trader. Their duties overlap, and each must consult and co-operate with the others.
Who is expected to do what
- Principal contractor
- Plans and co-ordinates the site: access, delivery areas, crane and hoist time, site rules, induction, and making sure subcontractors' SWMS are in place and followed
- Subcontractor (employer)
- Identifies the hazardous manual tasks in its own work, controls them, provides equipment and training, and consults its workers
- Sole trader
- Is both a PCBU and a worker — must manage the risk in their own tasks, and can ask the principal contractor for the aids and access the site should provide
- Supervisor or leading hand
- Puts the employer's controls into practice on the day: pre-starts, sequencing, deliveries, who lifts what with whom
- Worker, including apprentices and trainees
- Takes reasonable care, follows reasonable instructions and the SWMS, uses the aids provided, and reports hazards
What a worker is generally expected to do
- Take reasonable care for your own health and safety
- Take reasonable care that what you do does not harm others on site — other trades, visitors, the public
- Comply with reasonable instructions, including site rules and the SWMS for the task
- Co-operate with reasonable policies and procedures
- Use equipment and aids correctly, and only when trained and authorised — or licensed, where the law requires it
- Report hazards, incidents, near misses and defective equipment
Victoria is different, and requirements vary
Most states and territories use the model Work Health and Safety laws, regulated by SafeWork NSW, WHSQ, WorkSafe WA, SafeWork SA, WorkSafe Tasmania, WorkSafe ACT and NT WorkSafe. Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and regulations, regulated by WorkSafe Victoria, which use the terms employer and employee and include specific hazardous manual handling provisions. The principles in this course apply everywhere, but the exact wording, forms and codes differ. This course is general education, not legal advice about your site.
The Code of Practice, SWMS and site rules
Safe Work Australia publishes the model Code of Practice: Hazardous Manual Tasks, which most jurisdictions have adopted. It sets out how to identify hazardous manual tasks, assess the risk factors, apply the hierarchy of controls and review. Victoria has an equivalent compliance code for hazardous manual handling. A code is practical guidance on how to meet the law; following it is not the only way to comply, but a regulator or court can use it as evidence of what was reasonably practicable.
A safe work method statement (SWMS) is required before any high risk construction work starts — the regulations list the activities, which include work with a risk of a fall of more than 2 m, work in or near a trench deeper than 1.5 m, tilt-up and precast concrete work, structural alterations, demolition, work near powered mobile plant and work in confined spaces. Manual tasks are not on that list. Manual handling controls still belong in the SWMS for those activities, because the way materials get to a roof, into a trench or onto a scaffold is part of how the work is done safely.
Where manual handling instructions reach you on site
- The site induction — delivery zones, hoist and crane arrangements, site rules
- The SWMS for the task, which should name the aids, team lifts and sequencing required
- Pre-start meetings and toolbox talks, where the day's lifts and deliveries are planned
- Your employer's safe work procedures for your trade
- Manufacturer's instructions for materials and equipment, including rated capacities
- Instructions from your supervisor or leading hand on the day
The White Card is separate
General construction induction training — the White Card — is a legal requirement before you can carry out construction work, and it is delivered by registered training organisations. This course does not provide it, does not replace it and is not a substitute for a site-specific induction. It adds manual handling knowledge to the training you must already hold.
Consultation
Consultation means workers get a genuine say in decisions that affect their safety. On site this happens at pre-starts and toolbox talks, through health and safety representatives (HSRs) and safety committees, and when a SWMS is written or reviewed. The people carrying the sheets, pushing the barrows and running the breakers see the problems first — a delivery dropped in the wrong place, a hoist that is booked out, a trestle set at the wrong height. Raising it is part of the system, not a complaint.
Follow your site
Follow your employer's procedures, the site rules and the SWMS for the task. They always take precedence over a general course. If the SWMS says two-person lift, it is a two-person lift. Where this course and your site differ, follow your site and raise the difference with your supervisor.
Practical scenario
Scenario: the panel lifter is on another job
The SWMS for fixing a plasterboard ceiling names a panel lifter. When you arrive the lifter has been sent to another site. The leading hand suggests two of you hold each sheet up while a third screws it off, 'just for today'.
What is the appropriate response?
Reveal the explanation
Do not start the ceiling that way. Holding a 25 kg sheet overhead while someone fixes it is sustained high force in an awkward posture, and it is exactly what the SWMS control was written to avoid. Tell the leading hand you will follow the SWMS, ask for the lifter to be returned or hired, and do the wall sheets or another task in the meantime. If pressure continues, raise it with your employer or the HSR. Working outside the SWMS is not a favour to anyone.
Knowledge check
These questions are for your own learning. They are not part of the final assessment.
1. Which of the following is a worker's duty under Australian WHS principles?
Workers must take reasonable care and co-operate with reasonable instructions and procedures. Providing aids, procedures and SWMS is the duty of the employer and principal contractor.
2. Manual tasks are not on the list of high risk construction work. What does this mean for the SWMS?
How materials reach a roof, a trench or a scaffold is part of doing that high risk work safely, so the aids, team lifts and sequencing should be written into the SWMS.
3. How does this course relate to general construction induction training (the White Card)?
General construction induction is a legal prerequisite for construction work and is delivered by registered training organisations. This course does not provide or replace it.
4. A SWMS conflicts with a quicker method suggested on the day. What should you do?
The SWMS reflects the controls agreed for that task. Follow it, and if it is impractical, have it reviewed properly rather than worked around.
Sources and further reading
The framework this module summarises, from the regulators themselves. Your workplace procedures always take precedence.
- Safe Work Australia — Model Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks — The national code the state and territory regulators adopt or mirror.
- Safe Work Australia — Lifting, pushing and pulling (manual tasks)
- Safe Work Australia — Model WHS laws
- Safe Work Australia — Construction work Code of Practice