Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00411:front:0:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00411
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 2668–5390

code of practice applies to anyone who has a duty of care in the circumstances described in the code. In most cases, following an approved code of practice would achieve compliance with the health and safety duties in the WHS Act, in relation to the subject matter of the code. Like regulations, codes of practice deal with particular issues and do not cover all hazards or risks that may arise. The health and safety duties require duty holders to consider all risks associated with work, not only those for which regulations and codes of practice exist.
Codes of practice are admissible in court proceedings under the WHS Act and Regulations. Courts may regard a code of practice as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or control measure and may rely on the code in determining what is reasonably practicable in the circumstances to which the code relates.
Compliance with the WHS Act and Regulations may be achieved by following another method, such as a technical or an industry standard, if it provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety than the code.
An inspector may refer to an approved code of practice when issuing an improvement or prohibition notice.
This Code of Practice has been developed by Safe Work Australia as a model code of practice under the Council of Australian Governments' Inter-Governmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety for adoption by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments.

Scope and application
This Code is a revised version of the National Code of Practice for the Prevention of Falls in Housing Construction (2010), updated to reflect the requirements under the WHS Act and Regulations. It provides practical guidance for persons conducting a business or undertaking on how to eliminate, or if that is not possible, minimise the risk of falls from height in housing construction.
This Code applies to the construction or extension of:
    * detached houses
    * attached dwellings, separated from each other by a fire resisting wall, such as terrace, row or town houses
    * boarding and guest houses, hostels or similar with a floor area  less than 300m²
    * ancillary buildings to the above, such as private garages, gazeboes and carports.
The Code does not apply to the maintenance or renovation of buildings.
Note: The above points are based on Classes 1, 2 and 10 of the Building Code of Australia.
This Code does not apply to multi-storey buildings above two habitable storeys.
This Code should be read in conjunction with the Code of Practice: Managing the Risks of Falls at Workplaces and the Code of Practice: Construction Work.

How to use this Code
In providing guidance,