Risk Assessment

Compliance tracking

Digital forms

Pre-start inspections

Construction

Risk assessment: complete guide

Pre-Start Inspection

A pre-start inspection is a systematic check performed on plant, equipment, or vehicles before each use or shift to identify defects, damage, or unsafe conditions. It typically follows a standardised checklist covering safety-critical items such as brakes, steering, lights, tyres, guards, fluid levels, and warning devices. In Australia the legal duty behind it is the requirement to inspect plant in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations, so where an operator's manual specifies a check before each shift, that check is how the duty is met.

Compliance Management

Compliance management in asset-intensive industries is the systematic process of ensuring that equipment, operations, and personnel meet all applicable regulatory, safety, environmental, and contractual requirements. It encompasses tracking inspection due dates, certifications, licences, safety checks, environmental obligations, and industry-specific standards. Compliance management requires both proactive scheduling and thorough record-keeping.

WHS compliance software

WHS compliance software is a digital WHS management system that helps organisations meet Work Health and Safety obligations by managing inspections, incident records, risk assessments, corrective actions, contractor compliance, regulatory reporting and audit trails. It replaces paper registers, spreadsheets and email chains with a searchable system of record that shows what was checked, when it was checked, who completed it, what failed and what evidence was attached.

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is a safety procedure used to ensure that equipment is properly shut down, isolated from all energy sources, and cannot be restarted until maintenance or repair work is completed. Lockout involves physically locking energy isolation devices (such as circuit breakers or valves) in the off position, while tagout involves attaching a warning tag to the isolation point. LOTO protects workers from the unexpected release of hazardous energy during servicing.

Job Safety Analysis (JSA)

A Job Safety Analysis is a structured risk assessment technique that breaks a work task into its component steps, identifies the hazards present at each step, and documents the control measures required to eliminate or minimise those hazards. The JSA process typically involves observing the task, consulting with workers who perform it, listing each step in sequence, identifying what could go wrong at each step, and recording the controls that should be applied, following the hierarchy of controls from elimination through to personal protective equipment. JSAs are widely used across construction, mining, manufacturing, oil and gas, and logistics to ensure that hazards are systematically identified and addressed before work begins. They are often completed collaboratively by the work crew at the start of a shift or before a non-routine task. The completed JSA serves as both a planning tool and a communication document that every crew member reads and signs before commencing work, ensuring shared understanding of the hazards and the agreed controls.

Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS)

A Safe Work Method Statement is a documented procedure that describes the high-risk construction work to be carried out, the hazards associated with that work, and the control measures that will be implemented to manage those hazards. In Australia, a SWMS is a legal requirement for high risk construction work: regulation 291 of the model WHS Regulations lists 18 types, 19 in the ACT and Victoria, including work with a risk of a fall of more than two metres, work on or near energised electrical installations, demolition of load-bearing elements, and work in or near confined spaces. The SWMS must be prepared before the high-risk work commences, must take account of the circumstances at the workplace, and must be readily accessible to the workers carrying out the task. Workers who will do the work should be consulted on it, and many sites ask them to sign it, although the Regulations do not require a signature. A SWMS must be reviewed, and revised as necessary, whenever the relevant control measures are revised. The document typically includes the project and task description, the names and qualifications of workers, a step-by-step breakdown of the work, identified hazards at each step, risk ratings, and the specific control measures to be applied.

Working at Heights

Working at heights refers to any work performed in a location where a person could fall a distance likely to cause injury. In Australia, the model WHS Regulations set no minimum height: the duty covers any fall from one level to another that is reasonably likely to cause injury, and construction work with a risk of a fall of more than 2 metres also needs a safe work method statement. It includes work on roofs, scaffolds, ladders, elevated work platforms (EWPs), and open edges. Controls follow the hierarchy: eliminate the need for height work first, then use passive fall prevention, work positioning, and finally fall arrest systems.