CONSTRUCTION SAFETY CALLS FOR BETTER COMMUNICATION AND ‘HOTLINE’ EDITION 1-2016
The Territory’s construction industry has been urged to increase focus on safety culture to lock in safety improvements and further improve safety outcomes.
MASTER BUILDERS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President – Valdis Luks Treasurer – Frank Porreca Chair, Commercial Builders’ Sector Council – Peter Naylor Chair, Suppliers and Subcontractors’ Sector Council – Grace Ferreira Chair, Residential Builders’ Sector Council – Marc Roland Chair, Civil Contractors’ Sector Council – Peter Middleton Chair, Professional Consultants’ Sector Council – Bryan Leeming MASTER BUILDERS MANAGEMENT TEAM Executive Director – Kirk Coningham OAM Deputy Executive Director – Michael Hopkins Director Industrial Relations & In-house Legal Counsel – John Nikolić Director Commercial Operations – David Leitch Chief Financial Officer – Aaron Froud Work Health and Safety Advisor – Philip Edwards MBA GROUP TRAINING General Manager – Wendy Tengstrom
YOUTUBE LOGO SPECS Master Builders Association of the ACT 1 PRINT Iron Knob St, Fyshwick ACT 2609 PO Box 1211, Fyshwick ACT 2609 Tel: (02) 6247 2099 Fax: (02) 6249 8374 Email: canberra@mba.org.au Web: www.mba.org.au on light backgrounds
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Areas of greater focus this year will include enhancing communications to ensure lessons learned from near misses or actual incidents are rapidly communicated across the industry.
“That is a major improvement across all industry and construction has led the way. It’s welcome proof that the shift in safety culture from a confrontational ‘tick the box’ mentality to true collaboration, where everyone on a building site is accountable and empowered on safety, is delivering results.
“Lessons that potentially cost lives and limbs, fingers and toes, are far too important to delay. We need to ensure these hard won lessons are shared quickly and broadly. Today’s near miss must be swiftly converted into tomorrow’s smart safety measure,” Mr Coningham said.
“Government and industry have worked closely to effectively lead this change – concentrating on education and improving safety culture as much as identifying and punishing poor performers. WorkSafe officials are increasingly genuinely welcomed on sites for their ability to identify immediate and longer term improvements that keep people safe. “We have also worked closely with the Federal Safety Commissioner to shift the focus from systems and paperwork towards practical initiatives that are quickly embraced on work sites.
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Executive Director of Master Builders ACT, Kirk Coningham, said the most recent safety statistics showed an improvement of 20 percent on key safety measures.
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“While the improvement has been encouraging we can’t take our eye off the safety ball. Safety must remain the most important factor on any construction site,” Mr Coningham said.
Master Builders has also called for the establishment through Access Canberra of a safety hotline. “The hotline would be open to anyone who sees something on a site that puts people in danger. It would arm WorkSafe ACT officials with important information allowing them to respond appropriately. For really dangerous issues they might respond with an immediate call out. Others may warrant a quick call to highlight an issue. “The hotline idea empowers safety culture where everyone is responsible and accountable. We need less confrontation and finger pointing and a lot more of the genuinely constructive action that makes everyone safer.”
NORTHBOURNE CORRIDOR STRATEGY RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT The ACT Government has launched a discussion paper on the landmark City and Gateway Urban Renewal Strategy. The Strategy was previously called the City and Northbourne Urban Design Framework but has been renamed to the City and Gateway Urban Renewal Strategy in recognition of the iconic role that the Northbourne corridor plays as the main gateway to the nation's capital.
The urban renewal strategy will provide a unified vision for the corridor that will guide its future development. It recognises the corridor as a unique and diverse part of Canberra well placed to accommodate growth. It is a key implementation initiative of the City Plan, and will capitalise on opportunities created by government initiatives such as Capital Metro and City to the Lake. Further information about the strategy, including details on forums and meet the planners sessions, are available at http://haveyoursay.planning.act.gov.au or by contacting Stuart Mackenzie on 02 6205 4270 or at Stuart.Mackenzie@act.gov.au. Members interested in contributing to the MBA’s submission are invited to contact Michael Hopkins on 02 6247 2099 or mhopkins@mba.org.au.
Public comment is open until 14 March 2016.
Above: The City and Gateway corridor
Above: Artist’s impression of the City and Gateway corridor. Left: Artist’s impression of Northbourne Avenue at the Macarthur Avenue intersection.
CANBERRA BUSINESS CHAMBER, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CAPITAL METRO AGENCY ARE PLEASED TO LAUNCH THE ‘LIGHT RAIL BUSINESS LINK PROGRAM’.
The Light Rail Business Link Program will build links between Government, local business, and the successful Light Rail bidder. The Chamber will be encouraging all businesses to be “project ready”, to take advantage of this significant infrastructure investment by building the skills and training to participate.
You are invited to the first of a series of quarterly forums to launch the project. Two key note speakers will present current information about the competitive environment and contracting laws relevant to your business. Dr Michael Schaper, Deputy Chair of the ACCC will inform delegates wanting to participate in the Light Rail Project about the competition laws relating to cartels, joint ventures, and price fixing; and update you on the forthcoming new business-to-business unfair contracts law. Mark Brennan, Australian Small Business Commissioner will highlight the findings of the report titled “The Costs of Poor Contracting Practices” relating to the ASIO building project and what can be learned from that experience. Mark will also share his thoughts on dispute resolution and what small businesses should expect from government in shaping and supporting major projects.
DATE 16 February 2016 TIME 11.30am – 2:00pm VENUE Pavilion on Northbourne 242 Northbourne Ave Dickson COST Complimentary
Click here for more information on the Light Rail Business Link Program
This is a must attend event for all Canberra business seeking to benefit from the Light Rail project.
BUILDING REGULATORY REVIEW: NEW DATES FOR PUBLIC WORKSHOPS AND COMMUNITY FORUMS The Environment and Planning Directorate (EPD) has announced new dates for public workshops and community forums on the options to improve the ACT building regulatory system in the Minister for Planning’s discussion paper
Details of the workshops are below. 4 February 2016: Information session and forum - overview of reforms and Q&A (6:00pm-7:30pm) 4 February 2016: Public workshop 1 - Design, inspection and builders licensing 9:30 – 10:20 Session 1 Design and documentation 10:30 – 11:30 Session 2 Stage inspections and on-site supervision 11:40 – 12:55 Session 3 Builders licensing (note: this session is also available during the evening on Monday 8 February at 5:30 pm) 5 February 2016: Public workshop 2 - Retention funds and payment claims (security of payments) 10:00 – 11:00 Session 1 Project accounts and retention funds 11:10 – 12:00 Session 2 Payment claims 8 February 2016: Public workshop 4 – Builders and building surveyors licensing 4:00 – 5:20 Session 1 Building surveyors licensing – pre-application training and assessment 5:30 – 6:45 Session 2 Builders licensing (note: this session is also available during the day on Thursday 4 February at 11:40 am) 9 February 2016: Public workshop 3 - Residential building contracts, payments and disputes 2:00 – 2:50 Session 1 Contracts 3:00 – 4:00 Session 2 Project accounts? 4:10 – 5:10 Session 3 Alternative dispute resolution 13 February 2016: Community Forum (co-hosted with the Owners Corporation Network ACT) (10:00am-12:00pm) People may attend any or all of the sessions in a workshop. Sessions do need minimum numbers to run so please RSVP to this address ConstructionPolicy@act.gov.au indicating the sessions you will be attending. For more information on consultation, or to obtain a copy of the discussion paper, please visit http:// haveyoursay.planning.act.gov.au/improving-the-act-building-regulatory-system
Construction safety calls for better communication and ‘hotline’ The Territory’s construction industry has been urged to increase focus on safety culture to lock in safety improvements and further improve safety outcomes. Executive Director of Master Builders ACT, Kirk Coningham, said the most recent safety statistics showed an improvement of 20 percent on key safety measures. “That is a major improvement across all industry and construction has led the way. It’s welcome proof that the shift in safety culture from a confrontational ‘tick the box’ mentality to true collaboration, where everyone on a building site is accountable and empowered on safety, is delivering results. “Government and industry have worked closely to effectively lead this change – concentrating on education and improving safety culture as much as identifying and punishing poor performers. WorkSafe officials are increasingly genuinely welcomed on sites for their ability to identify immediate and longer term improvements that keep people safe. “We have also worked closely with the Federal Safety Commissioner to shift the focus from systems and paperwork towards practical initiatives that are quickly embraced on work sites. “While the improvement has been encouraging we can’t take our eye off the safety ball. Safety must remain the most important factor on any construction site,” Mr Coningham said. Areas of greater focus this year will include enhancing communications to ensure lessons learned from near misses or actual incidents are rapidly communicated across the industry. “Lessons that potentially cost lives and limbs, fingers and toes, are far too important to delay. We need to ensure these hard won lessons are shared quickly and broadly. Today’s near miss must be swiftly converted into tomorrow’s smart safety measure,” Mr Coningham said. Master Builders has also called for the establishment through Access Canberra of a safety hotline. “The hotline would be open to anyone who sees something on a site that puts people in danger. It would arm WorkSafe ACT officials with important information allowing them to respond appropriately. For really dangerous issues they might respond with an immediate call out. Others may warrant a quick call to highlight an issue. “The hotline idea empowers safety culture where everyone is responsible and accountable. We need less confrontation and finger pointing and a lot more of the genuinely constructive action that makes everyone safer.”