When to notify SafeWork NSW about a site incident
Notification is a decision you make in the first hour, usually with incomplete information, while the scene still needs controlling. Get the trigger and the immediate duties right and the rest of the response follows from them.
11 min read
Topic
Compliance
Articles and news about Compliance for Australian builders.
When to notify SafeWork NSW about a site incident
Notification is a decision you make in the first hour, usually with incomplete information, while the scene still needs controlling. Get the trigger and the immediate duties right and the rest of the response follows from them.
11 min read
Do you need DBP registration? A builder’s decision guide
Registration under the Design and Building Practitioners Act turns on what you actually do on a job, not on your licence category. This guide works through eligibility, class selection and the commercial cost of getting it wrong.
11 min read
Checking subcontractor insurance and WHS before they start
The cheapest place to fix a subcontractor compliance problem is your desk, the week before they mobilise. Once they are on site, you own the gap.
12 min read
Major or minor defect? Getting the classification right in NSW
The statutory warranties apply to every residential build, but the consequences of a breach turn on whether the defect is major or minor. The definition is narrow, and it decides who pays, how fast, and for how long.
12 min read
Ladders: the access method nobody plans for on a residential site
Most ladder injuries happen in the first few minutes, before the work starts, when nobody has decided whether a ladder was the right tool at all. Treat access as a planned task rather than a reflex and most of the risk disappears.
11 min read
How the NSW defect liability period actually works
The defect liability period in your contract is not the same thing as the statutory warranty period that runs regardless of what the contract says. Confusing the two is how builders end up paying for work twice.
11 min read
Site induction for subbies and visitors: what to record
An induction that is not recorded is an induction that did not happen. This covers what to put in front of subbies and visitors at a house site, and what to keep afterwards.
12 min read
Suspending work on an NSW residential job the right way
Suspending work is a contractual remedy, not a reaction. Get the notice right and you stop the clock without breaching the contract; get it wrong and you hand the other side a claim.
12 min read
Changes you have to tell the regulator about, and when
Your licence depends on the regulator being able to reach you and on your records matching the business you actually run. The administrative duties that quietly put a licence at risk are rarely about building work.
12 min read
How to keep up when the CPD and licensing rules change
CPD rules shift quietly. The builders who get caught are the ones who relied on a provider page or a memory of last year’s rules. Here is where the official requirements actually live, and how to check them without wasting a day.
13 min read
Where CPD sits among the rest of a builder licence holder’s duties
CPD is one obligation among several that sit on a licence holder, and it is the only one that is self-recorded and only checked if you are audited. A calendar that ties it to renewal, insurance and record keeping stops it being remembered only when something else goes wrong.
10 min read
Back charges and subcontractor disputes: doing it so it sticks
A back charge is only as strong as the clause you agreed and the evidence you kept. Here is how to run the process so it survives a payment dispute.
11 min read