Ask five people on a site what the difference is between a SWMS, a JSA, a JSEA and a Take 5, and you will usually get five answers. In many businesses all four exist, often for the same task, and none of them gets read once it is signed. They are not the same thing, […]
Health and safety
Articles on ISO 45001, Australian WHS law, codes of practice, SWMS and what regulators are enforcing, with a focus on controls that work on site rather than paperwork.
Managing Compliance Obligations: How to Build and Keep a Legal Register
Every ISO management system rests on one quiet assumption: that the business knows which laws apply to it and is meeting them. Most businesses do know the big ones. The trouble starts with the rest: the regulation under the Act, the code of practice, the licence condition, the clause in a customer contract. That is […]
Links to Australian Safety Codes of Practice: What are they and who should use them?
Codes of Practice are, in my experience, one of the most useful, and most overlooked, tools in Australian work health and safety. This page sets out what they are, how they are made and adopted, how they sit alongside the WHS Act and Regulations, and why they make such a sound foundation for any company’s […]
From 31 March 2027, a Missing SWMS Is an On-the-Spot Fine in Victoria
Victoria is giving WorkSafe inspectors a faster way to deal with some of the most common safety breaches on building sites. From 31 March 2027, an inspector who finds high-risk construction work under way without a safe work method statement (SWMS), or a fall risk with no proper control in place, will be able to […]
The National WHS Law Review Is Out. Here Is What It Would Change for Your Safety System.
Safe Work Australia has published the final report of its Best Practice Review of the model work health and safety laws. It is the first full review of the model laws since the 2018 Boland review, and it makes 21 recommendations to WHS ministers, along with a list of actions Safe Work Australia will take […]
ISO Clause 5.1 Leadership and Commitment: No Document Required, Plenty Expected
Clause 5.1 asks top management to demonstrate leadership but requires no document. Three ways to evidence it, from a signed policy to the audit interview.
What Is HSEQ? Health, Safety, Environment and Quality in One System
HSEQ means health, safety, environment and quality run as one system. What it covers, how it maps to ISO 45001, 14001 and 9001, and where to start.
Risk Matrix Template: A 5×5 Matrix With Consequence Criteria You Can Defend
Most risk matrix templates you can download are a coloured grid and nothing else. Five rows, five columns, green through red, and not one word about what the words mean. That is the part that matters. A grid is trivial to draw. The hard part, and the part an auditor asks about, is what separates […]
222 Workers Died in 2025. Most From Hazards We Already Know How to Control.
Safe Work Australia 2026 data: 222 worker deaths, mostly vehicles, falls and falling objects. Why the gap is control verification, and how to check it.
There Is Now a Code of Practice for Elevating Work Platforms. Most Duty Holders Have Not Read It.
Scissor lifts and boom lifts have been ordinary equipment on Australian sites for decades, and for most of that time the guidance behind them was exactly that: two Safe Work Australia guides, carrying no particular legal weight. That changed quietly. In December 2025 Safe Work Australia published a model Code of Practice: Elevating work platforms, […]
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