What is High-Risk Construction Work (HRCW)?
Short answer
High-Risk Construction Work (HRCW) is a defined category under WHS Regulation s.291 covering 18 specific activities — work at heights ≥ 2 m, in confined spaces, on or near energised electrical, with asbestos, demolition, etc. A SWMS must be prepared before any HRCW begins.
Under the model WHS Regulation s.291, 18 activities are defined as High-Risk Construction Work (HRCW). A SWMS must be prepared before any of them begins.
The 18 HRCW activities (paraphrased — refer to s.291 for the exact statutory wording):
- Work where there is a risk of a person falling more than 2 m.
- Work on a telecommunication tower.
- Demolition of an element of a structure that is load-bearing.
- Work involving the disturbance or removal of asbestos.
- Structural alterations or repairs that require temporary support.
- Work in or near a confined space.
- Work in or near a shaft or trench deeper than 1.5 m, or a tunnel.
- Work involving the use of explosives.
- Work on or near pressurised gas distribution mains or piping.
- Work on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines.
- Work on or near energised electrical installations or services.
- Work in an area that may have a contaminated or flammable atmosphere.
- Tilt-up or precast concrete.
- Work on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor in use by traffic.
- Work in an area where there are powered mobile plant movements.
- Work in an area with artificial extremes of temperature.
- Work in or near water or other liquid that involves a risk of drowning.
- Work involving diving.
RAE IQ's Pre-Task module (feature #24) includes an HRCW detector that scans JSA descriptions for keywords aligned to these 18 activities and (on the Business tier) hard-blocks JSA finalisation until a linked SWMS exists.
Victoria has a parallel "high-risk construction work" framework under the OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) Part 5.1 that covers similar activities but is structured differently from the model law.