News & Views

Senator Abetz (the former Minister for Employment) announced an amendment to the current Building Code 2013 (Federal), on Friday 18 September 2015 with the intent to improve workplace health and safety in the construction industry.

The Building Code (Fitness for Work/Alcohol and Other Drugs in the Workplace) Amendment Instrument 2015, requires contractors to have a code compliant drug and alcohol policy in place on applicable Federally funded projects.

Principal contractors working on applicable projects (that are receiving funding directly from the government) will need to comply with the amendments to the code, including (but not limited to):

• A  fitness for work policy that stipulates how drugs and alcohol are to be managed in the workplace

• A requirement for frequent (at least monthly) drug and alcohol testing for minimum numbers/percentages of employees onsite

• A ‘Zero’ tolerance policy for certain drugs and alcohol

• An mechanism to ensure others onsite comply with their fitness for work policy (e.g. subcontractors must also comply with the fitness for work policy)

• Policies to determine the procedures around testing (e.g. testing methods and selection of personnel) and manage those who do not comply with the policy, including any support mechanisms available to personnel who return a positive result.

Principal contractors must also cover the cost of drug and alcohol testing (and must not pass them on to subcontractors).

Contractors performing work for principal contractors (i.e. subcontractors) will need to ensure they have appropriate polices/procedures in place to ensure code compliance.

This amendment will take effect 28 days from 16 September 2015 (effectively 14 October 2015) and will be enforceable through the Fair Work Building Construction (FWBC).

NECA is currently working through the information to develop sample policies/procedures to assist contractors, however please feel free to contact us on (02) 9744 1099 if you have any questions or require any further information.