Earlier this month Incolink launched their latest Victorian Safety Handbook. The Incolink Health and Safety Handbook for the Building and Construction Industry is an initiative designed to benefit the wider construction industry.
For more than 25 years Incolink has produced the pocket-sized Safety Handbook in collaboration with construction unions and with the building and civil construction industry. It is designed to provide workers with the basic principles of safety requirements applicable to all construction sites in Victoria, regardless of their size.
The objective of the Handbook is to assist employers and employees to work together in establishing and maintaining safe construction sites. The control measures identified in the Handbook should be incorporated in any safe work method statements (SWMS) developed for specific high-risk work tasks.
It is a fantastic reference for HSRs and workers in determining the appropriate standard of safety that their employers should be providing.
The latest edition of the Handbook reflects the changes in regulation since 2020 and is updated through to 2025. Construction industry topics covered by the handbook are:
- Safety responsibilities and organisation on site
- Hazard identification and control of risks
- Height safety and work platforms
- Electrical safety spotters and safety observers
- Controlling hazards in structural work
- Electrical safety
- Cranes, hoists and earthmoving equipment
- Traffic management
- Welding and hot work
- Confined spaces
- Diving in construction work
- Explosive powered tools, nail guns, compressed air and lasers
- Hazardous substances and dangerous goods
- Control of hazardous dusts and fibres
- Noise
- Hazardous manual handling
- Personal protective equipment
- Natural disasters and storms
- Stress from hot and cold working conditions
- Fatigue
- Safe driving
Incolink was established in 1989, in a partnership between unions and employers, as a portable entitlement fund to serve as a safety net to keep workers' entitlements (such as redundancy payments, portable sick leave, and income protection insurance) safe, regardless of employer changes, project contract timeframes or company insolvency. The organisation is also committed to providing support services for workers aimed at improving health and safety outcomes across the industry.
A digital edition of the Handbook can be downloaded via the link here.
Read more: Incolink launches our latest Victorian Safety Handbook | Incolink