Civil Construction WHS Manual

This is the civil construction edition of the WHS Manual. It has the same chapters as the general WHS Manual, rewritten for civil contractors working on roads, subdivisions, stormwater, sewer and water mains, earthworks, culverts and bridges, so you only need one of the two. It names the plant, licences, substances, laws and approved codes that civil work involves, and points to the SWMS, plans, permits and checklists in our range that fit civil crews. The cover page is ready for your business name and logo. Part A is the management system, in 23 numbered chapters. Part B holds the full text of 86 policies and procedures (41 that apply to every business and 45 for civil construction work), each on its own pages in the same editable file, so you can edit, issue and sign off each one without buying it separately.

Need the SWMS for your work? Browse civil works SWMS, or add policies, forms and registers with the Civil Construction WHS Management System.

What Is Included In Our Civil Construction WHS Manual?

• WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Duties and roles for directors, managers, supervisors and workers in civil construction work
• Trench and excavation rules, underground services location and potholing
• Powered mobile plant, ground persons and lifting and slinging with excavators and cranes
• Traffic management and work beside live roads
• Overhead and underground electric lines with the exclusion zones in a table
• Confined spaces in sewers, manholes and wet wells
• Asbestos cement pipe, silica from saw cutting and coring, bitumen and sewer gas
• Emergency planning for work fronts without a street address, and first aid
• Site facilities, amenities and environmental controls for sediment, spills and dewatering
• A list of 45 civil SWMS, permits, checklists and registers, and when to use each
• Definitions and the legislation and approved codes that apply to civil construction work
• Part B: the full text of 86 policies and procedures, from risk, hazard and incident management to manual handling, hazardous substances, emergencies and return to work, plus 45 for civil construction work

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): the meaning of reasonably practicable (s 18), our primary duty of care (s 19), duties of persons who manage or control a workplace (s 20), codes of practice (ss 26A, 274 and 275), duties of officers (s 27), duties of workers and others (ss 28 and 29), offences and penalties (ss 31 to 34D), notifiable incidents (ss 35 to 39), consultation (ss 46 to 49), health and safety representatives and committees (pt 5), the right to cease unsafe work (ss 84 to 86), inspectors and notices (ss 90, 163, 171, 191, 195 and 198), entry by WHS entry permit holders (ss 117 to 121), discriminatory conduct (ss 104 to 106), and no levy on workers (s 273)
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): the primary duty (s 30), codes of practice (ss 44 and 45), and electrical work licences (s 55)
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld): claims and the employer’s injury report (ss 131 and 133), rehabilitation and return to work (ss 226 to 232), and the protection of injured workers (ss 232A to 232G)
• Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld), which applies the Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland): the chain of responsibility (ss 26A to 26H), mass, dimension and loading, and fatigue
• Plumbing and Drainage Act 2018 (Qld): the licence for plumbing and drainage work (s 56)
• Explosives Act 1999 (Qld)
• Radiation Safety Act 1999 (Qld): the licence to possess a radiation source (s 12)
• Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (Qld): gas work licences (ss 726 and 727)
• Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld): the value of a penalty unit (s 5(1)(d))
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): managing risks (ss 32 to 38), facilities, first aid, emergency plans and personal protective equipment (ss 40 to 47), remote or isolated work (s 48), noise (ss 56 to 59), manual tasks (s 60), confined spaces (ss 62 to 77), falls (ss 78 to 80), high risk work licences (ss 81 to 85 and sch 3), plant (chapter 5), demolition (ss 142 to 144), construction work (chapter 6, including high risk construction work in s 291, the principal contractor in s 293, SWMS in ss 299 to 303, underground services in s 304, excavation in ss 305 and 306, falls in ss 306C and 306D and the controls for falling objects and adjoining areas in ss 315B to 315M), hazardous chemicals (chapter 7), asbestos (chapter 8), crystalline silica (chapter 8A), and the dictionary (sch 19)
• Work Health and Safety (Codes of Practice) Notice 2022 (Qld): the list of approved codes of practice
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead electric lines and exclusion zones (ss 10 to 13 and sch 2), underground electric lines (s 15), construction site electrical equipment (s 140), energised electrical work (ss 195 to 204), rescue and resuscitation training (s 211), notifying serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events (s 292), and the dictionary (sch 10)
• Transport Operations (Road Use Management – Accreditation and Other Provisions) Regulation 2015 (Qld): the traffic controller function and who may perform it (ss 51, 54 and 55)
• Explosives Regulation 2017 (Qld): the licence to use explosives (s 32) and notice of proposed blasting (s 154)
• Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019 (Qld)
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2025 (Qld): the criteria for appointing a return to work coordinator (s 149)
• 32 Queensland approved codes of practice, named in full in the manual

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word manual (554 pages), A4 portrait, with a cover page ready for your business name and logo, a contents list, Part A (23 numbered chapters) and Part B (86 policies and procedures)
• Business details and document control typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• A WHS policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Roles, procedures, a risk matrix, record-keeping periods, definitions and references
• Part B: the full text of 86 policies and procedures, each starting on a new page
• Links by name to the matching SWMS, forms and registers in our range

Review it and adjust it to suit your business, your sites and the way your team works, and talk it through with your workers. If you have any trouble downloading this template, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading.