Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00394:body:0:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00394
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 2702–5521

under section 274
of the Work Health and Safety Act (the WHS Act).
An approved code of practice is a practical guide to achieving the standards of health, safety
and welfare required under the WHS Act and the Work Health and Safety Regulations (the WHS Regulations).
A 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 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 provides guidance to principal contractors and other persons conducting a business
or undertaking who carry out construction work on how to meet the health and safety requirements under the WHS Act and Regulations relating to construction work.

Housing construction work
While the information and guidance contained in this code is relevant to all types of construction work, additional guidance marked with this symbol  is provided for businesses working within the housing construction sector.

Relationship with other codes
This Code should be read in conjunction with other codes of practice on specific hazards and control measures relevant to the construction industry including:
    * Demolition Work
    * Excavation Work
    * Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces
    * Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work
    * Preventing Falls in Housing Construction
    * Confined Spaces
    * Hazardous Manual Tasks
    * Safe Design of Structures
    * Managing the Work Environment and Facilities
    *