All domestic commercial vessels are defined as workplaces in Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. This includes construction barges which must meet the risk assessment requirements of state and territory WHS regulations, as well as the risk assessment requirements under the National Law administered by AMSA.
"These barges undertake different and high-risk activities daily so owners and operators must always assess changing safety risks," said Dr Michelle Grech, AMSAs Manager of Vessel Operations.
"Regularly reviewing individual risks and reassessing vessel safety management systems to reflect the operation the barge is performing is vital to keeping vessels and people safe," said Dr Grech.
A dedicated campaign website with a range of information and practical advice is now available to support owners, operators and individual workers.
A series of workshops for barge owners and operators covering risk assessment will also be delivered, in partnership with state and territory WHS agencies.
These will cover key risk assessment information to help make vessels safer places to work, and how to meet National Law and state and territory WHS legal obligations.
The first workshop will be presented by AMSA in partnership with SafeWork NSW on 29 March in Drummoyne, NSW. More workshops in other locations will be announced.
To support the regulations to keep people safe on commercial construction barge vessels, we will be conducting joint focused inspections from 1 May 2022 until 30 June 2022 to assist owners and operators to meet the requirements.
For more information and to register for education workshops online go to the Construction barge safety campaign hub.