What is a WHS management plan on a construction project?

Before work starts on a construction project in NSW, the principal contractor has to prepare a written WHS management plan. The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) defines a construction project as construction work costing $250,000 or more, and every one of them needs a plan.

The plan is the rulebook for that one site. It is written for the job in front of it, and it changes as the job changes.

Who prepares it

Each construction project has one principal contractor, and the plan is its duty. Under the Regulation, the business that commissions the project is the principal contractor unless it appoints another business to the role and gives it control of the site.

For a school or council, that is a good reason to name the principal contractor clearly in the contract. The wider duties of the role are covered in what a principal contractor is responsible for.

Contents of the plan

The Regulation lists what the plan must set out:

• the names, positions and safety responsibilities of the people on site who hold them
• how the businesses on site consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other
• how any safety incident on site will be managed
• the site's own safety rules, and how everyone on site is told about them
• how safe work method statements are collected, checked, monitored and reviewed

Worker briefings

The principal contractor has to take all reasonable steps so that every worker knows what the plan says before they start. On most sites that happens at the site induction, as covered in workforce screening and site inductions.

The plan and SWMS

High risk construction work needs a safe work method statement, and the plan sets out how those statements are gathered and checked. A SWMS covers one activity, while the plan covers the whole site and how all its activities fit together. What a subcontractor has to provide is set out in subcontractor safety documentation.

Students and the public nearby

On a school, park or station, the site's own rules carry the most weight, because the public is just past the fence. Monument's controls include secure hoarding and fencing, separate access for people and vehicles, full-time supervision spotting all plant movement, and high-risk work scheduled away from the busiest times.

The full list is in safety controls used around students and the public.

Revisions

A plan written at the start of a job goes stale once the job moves on. The Regulation requires the principal contractor to keep it up to date, so a new stage, a new subcontractor or a change to the site's access means a revised plan and a briefing on what changed.

Monument's system

Monument works as principal contractor, holding the head contract and carrying accountability for safety from start to finish. Its safety controls run under an ISO 45001 certified safety management system, achieved in 2024 alongside ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

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