Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00410:body:0:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00410
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 2567–5461

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
The Code provides practical guidance to persons conducting a business or undertaking who design structures that will be used, or could reasonably be expected to be used, as a workplace. This includes architects, building designers and engineers.
This Code is also relevant for anyone making decisions that influence the design outcome, such as clients, developers and builders.
This Code applies to the design of 'structures' defined under the WHS Act to mean anything that is constructed, whether fixed or moveable, temporary or permanent, and includes:
    * buildings, masts, towers, framework, pipelines, roads, bridges, rail infrastructure and underground works (shafts or tunnels)
    * any component of a structure, and
    * part of a structure.

How to use this code of practice
In providing guidance, the word 'should' is used in this Code to indicate a recommended course of action, while 'may' is used to indicate an optional course of action.
This Code also includes various references to provisions of the WHS Act and Regulations which set out the legal requirements. These references are not exhaustive. The words 'must', 'requires' or 'mandatory' indicate that a legal requirement exists and must be complied with.

1.             INTRODUCTION

Eliminating hazards at the design or planning stage is often easier and cheaper to achieve than making changes later when the hazards become real risks in the workplace.
Safe design can result in many benefits, including:
    * more effective prevention of injury and illness
    * improved useability of structures
    * improved productivity and reduced costs
    * better prediction and management of production and operational costs over the lifecycle
      of a structure
    * innovation, in that safe design can demand new thinking to resolve hazards that occur
      in the construction phase and in end use.
Design, in relation to a structure,