Despite being the most common cause of worksite fatalities nationwide, WA has pushed back enforcement of its long-awaited safety rules for tradies working at heights.
The state’s builders will now have until September 30, 2026, to transition to the requirements used across the rest of the country, which force builders to provide safety controls if there is a fall risk at any height, almost five years after they were originally announced.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North blamed the belated rollout on an already overburdened construction sector, claiming that the latest extension would give bosses the “additional lead time to plan and implement improved controls”.
“It was always recognised that some workplaces would need time to adapt to the new regime, even though systems for identifying, assessing and controlling hazards should already have been in place,” Ms North said.
“Hence our approach has been to assist business to comply with the laws, and this is the intent of this extension of transitional period.”
WA’s Industrial Relations Minister Simone McGurk agreed, giving the green light to the delay after the Work Health and Safety Commission initially denied an extension at their August roundtable.
“Feedback from industry was that more time was needed to prepare for the transition, given the current pressures around housing construction,” Ms McGurk said.
But workload pressures or not, unions are understandably miffed that bringing safety codes in line with what states like Victoria and Queensland have been using since 2021 will have taken WA the better part of a decade.
Unions WA boss Owen Whittle argued that the sector had ample time for the transition and warned the lack of action could lead to more injuries and deaths in the construction industry.
“We will have been waiting a decade for the same regulations around falls from heights in construction that already exist in the rest of the country, due to the refusal of industry employers to improve in time and the lack of action from Government to make them,” he told The West Australian.
“This is weaponised incompetence from the construction industry and will have consequences.
“We will see injuries and even deaths in this industry well before they comply.”
The extension comes only weeks after a WA construction firm was fined $90,000 after a worker was seriously injured after falling from a patio roof of a northern suburbs home.
Despite pressure mounting on the government to take action, McGurk said she wouldn’t walk back the newly established 2026 date, but did claim there wouldn’t be any further extensions.
“The safety of workers is paramount and remains a high priority for the Cook Government,” she said.
Ms North also said that businesses that wanted to comply with the updated safety laws early could access educational material available through the WorkSafe website.
“An array of guidance material is available to help workplaces to understand and adapt to the updated laws, including codes of practice, safety guides and information sheets that provide practical guidance on complying with the laws,” she added.
