Saltair achieves Federal Safety Commissioner accreditation

FSC accreditation is certification under the Australian Government's WHS Accreditation Scheme, which exists to improve health and safety in the building and construction industry. The Scheme is administered by the Federal Safety Commissioner, and it sets the safety standard a builder must meet before it can be engaged as head contractor on government-funded building work covered by the Scheme.

To be accredited, a builder must have a work health and safety management system that meets the FSC Audit Criteria, and must show that the system is being implemented and followed on site. It is not a paper exercise. The FSC certifies the builder's safety management system, and accredited builders are audited regularly to confirm they continue to comply with the Scheme.

You will see the scheme described in a few ways: FSC accreditation, OFSC accreditation, Federal Safety Commissioner accreditation or WHS Scheme accreditation. They all refer to the same thing.

The Federal Safety Commissioner sets three broad requirements. An applicant must show a demonstrated ability to manage construction hazards and high-risk activities, a positive record on workplace safety, and consistently good results in on-site audits.

Those on-site audits look closely at six areas:

• Senior management commitment to WHS, shown in practice rather than in policy alone
• Safe design principles built into the risk management process
• WHS consultation and communication across the whole project
• Effective management of subcontractor safety across building and construction projects
• Performance measurement across the whole project
• WHS training and competency, so people are equipped to deal with the safety risks of their work

The Scheme allows builders to meet these criteria in different ways, depending on the type of work they do. What matters is that the system works on real projects, and that auditors can see it working.

Source: Federal Safety Commissioner

The most direct effect is eligibility. Under the Scheme, only accredited builders can enter into head contracts for building work funded directly or indirectly by the Australian Government, where the project meets the Scheme's financial thresholds. With accreditation in place, Saltair can now be engaged as head contractor on this work.

That matters for the sectors Saltair already serves, many of which involve government funding: social and affordable housing, government and defence, health and aged care, education and community facilities. For a funding recipient, such as a community housing provider or a council, engaging an accredited builder helps meet the conditions attached to Commonwealth funding. The request for tender will usually state whether accreditation is required.

Accreditation also gives every client, government-funded or not, independent evidence of how a builder manages safety. It sits alongside Saltair's existing credentials, including ISO 45001 certification for our WH&S management system, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, and Queensland Prequalified Contractor (PQC) Level 3 status.

Modular construction changes where most of the risk sits. At Saltair, a large share of every build happens inside our manufacturing facilities at Coolum and Brisbane, a controlled environment where work is planned, repeatable and supervised. The modules then travel to site for delivery and installation, where a different set of hazards applies. Our safety system has to cover both, and that is exactly what the FSC audit tested.

Because Saltair manages design, manufacture, delivery and installation in-house, one safety standard applies across the whole project rather than being handed between separate contractors. That same control extends to our subcontractors, whose safety management is one of the areas the Scheme assesses.

"Saltair's commitment to safety combines factory precision with absolute site protection, ensuring every modular build prioritises human safety. Every employee is backed by an uncompromised standard of daily hazard prevention, from the manufacturing floor to the final installation site."

-Daryl Turner - Health, Safety and Environment Manager, Saltair

Safety is the first of Saltair's five company values. Accreditation by the Federal Safety Commissioner is independent confirmation that it is practised every day, not just written down.