Work Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme

The Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (OFSC) acts to improve workplace health and safety (WHS) practices on building and construction sites across Australia through the administration of the Work Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme (the Scheme) and by promoting safety across the industry.

The Scheme enables the Commonwealth to use its influence as a major construction client and provider of capital to improve the WHS performance of the industry.

The Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity must not fund building work within certain financial thresholds, either directly or indirectly, unless contracts for the building work will be entered into with builders accredited under the Scheme.

The Scheme applies to all projects that are directly funded by the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity if a ‘head contract for building work’ under the project has a value of at least $4 million (GST inclusive).

For indirectly funded projects, if the contribution to the project by the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity is at least $6 million (GST inclusive) and represents at least 50 per cent of the total project value, or is at least $10 million (GST inclusive), the project will be captured under the Scheme.

The model clauses provided by the OFSC will assist the Commonwealth and corporate Commonwealth entities to meet their obligations under the Federal Safety Commissioner Act 2022.

The model clauses contain:

• Advertisement clauses, tender clauses and contract clauses for building work directly funded by the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity
• Funding agreement and grant clauses for the provision of funding by the Commonwealth or a corporate Commonwealth entity to third parties where building work is likely to, or could be, procured using the funding
• Advertisement clauses, tender clauses and contract clauses for funding recipients who are responsible for delivery of projects involving building work