Legislation in Construction and Utilities

The Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act (2004) ('the Act') applies to all Victorian construction sites and most Victorian workplaces. The exception is that the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011 (more information on the Commonwealth Act) applies to workers in Federal government departments, agencies and business enterprises (eg Telstra, Australia Post). 

Read more about OHS in Victoria: Overview of OHS Legislation.

Under the Act, the minister can declare regulations and codes of practice, and WorkSafe Victoria can also release guidance notes, guidelines, alerts and so on.  Below is a list of regulations which are of particular importance to workers in construction and utilities.

2017 Regulations

The regulations have chapters on

• Asbestos
• Silica
• High risk work
• Confined Spaces
• Hazardous substances
• Incident Notification
• Hazardous Manual Handling
• Noise
• Plant
• Prevention of Falls
• and more

You can access a summary of the Act and of most of the above regulations in the 'Law' section of the website. You can also access the other regulations there too.

Compliance Codes 

Codes of Practice are advisory documents.  These are available free from WorkSafe (phone 1800 136 089) or you can access them from the Codes page of this website.

• Building and Construction Workplaces
• Demolition
• Electrical Installations on Construction Sites
• First Aid in the Workplace
• Hazardous substances
• Manual Handling
• Noise
• Plant
• Prevention of Falls (both General Construction and Housing Construction)
• Safe Use of Cranes
• Safety Precautions in Trenching Operations
• Tilt-Up Construction
• Workplaces

The Dangerous Goods Act (1985) and Regulations may also be relevant in many construction workplaces.  This Act and other Victorian legislation can be accessed on the Victorian Law Today website.

Regulation of all matters electrical

undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefinedThe Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector (OCEI) was the technical regulator and is responsible for electrical safety and equipment efficiency in Victoria, Australia.  The OCEI has now been combined with the Gas authority into a new organisation called EnergySafe Victoria.  It licenses and registers electrical workers and produces codes, guidelines and alerts.  Visit the EnergySafe Victoria website for more information.

Important Construction & Utilities Information