WHS Regulation 2025, Part 6.4 (s 309)

Regulation

Construction work costing $250,000 or more (s 292)

Value Threshold

SWMS required (s 299); no WHS management plan

HRCW Below Threshold

Principal contractor

Responsible Party

Before work on the project commences

Must Be Prepared

Kept until project completion, readily accessible (s 313)

Accessibility

You need a WHS management plan when you are the principal contractor for a construction project, meaning a project where the cost of the construction work is $250,000 or more (section 292). High risk construction work does not trigger a WHS management plan on its own: it triggers a SWMS (section 299), whatever the project value. The regulation does not say how GST or separately let packages are counted towards the threshold. The principal contractor is the business that commissions the construction project, unless it engages another business as principal contractor and authorises that business to have management or control of the workplace (section 293).

You do not need a WHS management plan when the cost of the construction work is below $250,000, because the work is then not a construction project (section 292). Small residential renovation projects, minor commercial fit-outs, and routine maintenance work below the threshold do not trigger the WHS management plan requirement, although any high risk construction work in them still needs a SWMS. However, even when a WHS management plan is not required, you still have a duty under the WHS Act to manage risks to health and safety. A risk assessment, safe work procedures, and appropriate controls must still be in place for all construction work regardless of project value. If you are a subcontractor on a project where a principal contractor has prepared a WHS management plan, you must comply with the plan but are not required to prepare your own separate WHS management plan for the project.

Section 309(2) of the WHS Regulation 2025 specifies the mandatory content of a WHS management plan. The plan must include the names, positions, and health and safety responsibilities of all persons at the workplace whose positions or roles involve specific health and safety responsibilities for the project. It must include the arrangements for consultation, co-operation, and the co-ordination of activities between the businesses at the workplace. It must include the arrangements for managing incidents at the workplace. It must include any site-specific health and safety rules and the arrangements for ensuring all workers are informed of those rules. It must include the arrangements for the collection and any assessment, monitoring, and review of safe work method statements. A copy must be kept until the project is completed and be readily accessible to anyone who is to carry out construction work on the project (section 313). It must be reviewed and revised as necessary so it remains up to date (section 311).

Failure to prepare a WHS management plan when required is a breach of the WHS Regulation 2025 that can result in enforcement action by the relevant WHS regulator. Enforcement options include improvement notices requiring the plan to be prepared within a specified timeframe, prohibition notices stopping work until the plan is in place, and infringement notices imposing on-the-spot fines. In serious cases, prosecution can result in significant fines. Beyond regulatory penalties, the absence of a WHS management plan on a construction project creates practical risks including poor coordination between contractors, unclear safety responsibilities, inconsistent incident response, and a weakened due diligence position for officers of the PCBU. If a serious incident occurs on a project where no WHS management plan exists, the absence of the plan becomes evidence that the PCBU failed to take a systematic approach to managing WHS risks on the project.

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