With the HazardCo App, it’s as easy as picking up a smartphone to stay on top of on-site health and safety activity. And that’s the case for absolutely anyone on-site, from the foreman or site supervisor, to team members, contractors and their crew, as well as any site visitors.

There are two key parts to the HazardCo system, the Hub and the App: 

• The Hub is your record of everything and everyone in one place – your online tool for managing and viewing H&S across all of your projects. 

• The App puts H&S in the palm of your hand – and everyone else’s hands on-site too. App Users on your account use the App to complete H&S activity for your site, following the straight forward guides and forms to ensure they’ve ticked all the boxes when it comes to identifying and managing H&S risks. And everyone else on-site including contractors and visitors, scans on and off site and completes site inductions with the HazardCo App – simply scanning the QR code on the HazardCo Hazard Board.

As the business owner, a lot of responsibility for H&S sits with you. However, with HazardCo’s digital system, it’s easy to add key team members to your account as App users, meaning any one of you can use the App to complete on-site H&S activity and those day-to-day tasks can be delegated or shared with others. All completed activity lands back in the Hub under your Project Overview, which you can review from anywhere and at any time.

The App features all of the key H&S activities you should be doing on-site, including SWMS, Risk Assessment, Site Review, Toolbox Meeting, Vehicle Checklist, or to Report an Incident. What’s more, if your subbies are also HazardCo members, they can use the App to scan onto your site and share any of their completed H&S activity directly to your Hub using the QuickShare feature on the App.

Learn more about all of the features on the HazardCo App and see just how straightforward it makes H&S for you and the team… this video overviews the HazardCo App, showing you all you need to know. Nothing beats the feeling of confidence you’ll get from being a HazardCo member.

Excavation is among the most hazardous construction operations. Therefore, to protect your workers from injuries, measures should be implemented to minimise the risks around excavations.

Planning the work
Planning involves identifying the hazards, assessing the risks, and deciding suitable controls in consultation with everyone involved in the work. Remember to consider the unique characteristics of the site. This should include the principal contractor, excavation contractor, structural engineers, mobile plant operators, employees undertaking the work, and Health and Safety Representatives

Controlling excavation risks
Common risks to be considered when planning excavation works are:

• Securing the work area
  Ensure excavations are suitably fenced at all times with barriers strong enough not to collapse if someone leans or falls against them. Where possible, cover excavations if not working in or near them, or backfill immediately once work is completed.
  *Members of the public need to be prevented from entering the excavation site when it is unattended. Trenches should be covered to prevent unauthorized entry.

• Falling from height
  Working at height involves if a person could fall from one level to another.

• Ground Collapse
  Ground collapse is one of the main risks of excavation work. You can prevent collapse by use of trench shields, positive ground support (shoring), benching or battering back. Do not assume the ground will stand unsupported. Ground collapse prevention methods need to be designed in accordance with appropriate engineering principles and published Australian Standards. 

It is important that materials are not placed or stacked near the edge of the excavation or inside the ‘zone of influence’ unless the ground conditions allow for it or a ground support system has been installed which has been designed to carry such loads

• Safe access and egress
  Provide safe access and egress for all workers at all times. Ensure you keep the floor of the excavation clear of anything that would obstruct workers’ safely exiting  in an emergency

• Overhead and underground services
  Dial before you dig, and make yourself aware of the unseen services below and above that could be a risk to your works. 

• Ground & surface water
  Workers should not work in excavations where water has collected or is collecting unless the necessary controls are in place.

Emergency procedures
An employer must establish emergency procedures before construction work is undertaken if there is a risk of a person becoming engulfed by soil or other material when the work is performed

Notification of construction excavation work
Unless certain exemptions apply (i.e. a mine, a bore, a quarry, for the purpose of undertaking emergency work, made for the rescue of any person, made for the use as a place of burial), WorkSafe Victoria must be notified in writing at least three days before work starts on an excavation that will be of sufficient dimensions or depth to allow the entry of a person, or if there will be a risk to the health or safety of any person from the excavation. You can notify WorkSafe Victoria here.

For more information on work that needs to be notified to WorkSafe, including notifiable events and incidents, click here.

Keeping you and your workmates safe at work is a priority, so make sure you are aware of your requirements of managing the risks of excavation.


The Site Review and SWMS features on the HazardCo App have a list of risk controls that should be in place to minimise the risk associated with excavation work.


If you need a hand getting started or would like more information, get in touch with the friendly HazardCo team today – we’re always happy to help.

One of the most challenging parts of managing any site is the volume of subbies, contractors, and visitors on-site at any one time. Adding to this, each individual will bring their own thinking and commitment to health and safety, so it’s important as the site leader you set the right tone from the outset, harnessing smart and easy to use tools on the HazardCo App.

Because when your subbies all use HazardCo – everyone benefits.

Saving time on-site can help everyone get the job done quicker. With all your subbies using the same system, everything follows the same format, making it much quicker and easier to find the information you need, when you need it. There is also less time chasing everyone for paperwork, and site inductions done can be completed by the subbie or their team members, on their own smartphones so it doesn’t take you away from the job at hand.

HazardCo makes this super easy with the QuickShare feature which lets subbies add their health and safety activity to your project on the HazardCo Hub. All at the touch of a button. Your subbies simply need their own HazardCo membership to enable this.

When your subbies are members of HazardCo too, it means no double handling – once a report or activity is created on the App it can be shared with you straight away. It’s easier for your subbies as they have clear and replicable forms on the App which they can share directly to your Hub… it all adds up to less time on paperwork and less visits to the site office. With the App’s time saving features all available in the palm of their hand, there are no excuses for not doing it, and your subbies don’t have to try and remember to ‘do it later’. 

Perhaps most importantly of all, by sharing your information and activity quickly and easily, you’ll both be on the same page when it comes to health and safety for your site. This means you are doing the right thing by yourself and your wider crew.

Whether or not you believe in the well-known phrase, “the customer is always right”, there is no doubt that the customer or client plays an important role in the success of your job.

One way to give them confidence and make those day to day conversations easier is to demonstrate great health and safety management whenever they’re on-site. Using HazardCo’s smart App and online health and safety system, it’s easy to stay on top of site health and safety, and you always know who is on-site in real-time.

Most clients will be inexperienced when it comes to building and site management, and some will want different levels of involvement and visitation to site. By encouraging site visits, you can ensure there are no surprises for your client, and as the project progresses you can manage expectations or discuss changes as necessary. In most cases, this is a significant financial investment for the client – meaning stress and worry can be high, so take the stress out of health and safety using HazardCo’s smart online tools. 

Clients should be accompanied whilst on-site. Getting your client to use the HazardCo App to scan in and out of site for each visit, will help you keep health and safety top of mind for them too, because as much as they own the property, you own the construction site. It’s an important reminder that everyone is responsible for health and safety, including the client. This includes being responsible for ensuring the safety of contractors and team at work, including ensuring all projects have a Site Specific Safety Plan and Hazard Board.

Many clients will be unaware that they also have health and safety responsibilities, so share this with them, and show them how HazardCo’s clever system helps you cover all of the bases. This will give them peace of mind that you are on top of site health and safety, giving greater confidence in a successful job.  

It’s important that these expectations are established at the start of any job. Meeting with your client to discuss timing for site visits, and frequency on-site. The same rules should apply to them as any other visitor, including receiving a site induction, scanning in and out of site every time, dressing appropriately, and checking the hazard board.

By bringing your client on your health and safety journey with HazardCo, you will be in for a five star review, giving them peace of mind about the job. 

Homes built or renovated  between 1950 and 2000 are likely to contain some asbestos. Therefore, every tradesperson is likely to come into contact with asbestos at work sooner or later. That’s why it’s important for you to understand how to manage the risk from working with or near asbestos, and how to protect yourself and others from exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. 

Surveying and Testing

Areas that we recommend getting tested are cladding, roofing, vinyl, fibre cement sheeting, internal ceilings, and plumbing lagging.

There are 3 main types of testing or surveying; Management, Refurbishment, and Demolition, and each of these is designed for a specific purpose.

• Asbestos Management Survey: Are designed to locate asbestos in a property. This survey is typically used prior to minor maintenance work or to help manage any potential risks associated with asbestos.

• Asbestos Refurbishment Survey: Are designed to locate asbestos in a property before major work commences.

• Asbestos Demolition Survey: Are designed to locate asbestos in a property before it is demolished. This survey is also designed to give clearance to the area once demolition has been completed. 

It is important that when you are conducting work that requires planning permission, it is likely that you will require a demolition or refurbishment survey to search for asbestos present. As the contractor, you have a legal requirement to ensure asbestos is identified and removed before any work begins that may disturb the asbestos in your client’s home. 

You can refer to the SafeWork Australia website  for more details on asbestos here

Discovering Asbestos

What to do if you or your workers uncover or damage materials that may contain asbestos:

• Stop work immediately. 
• Keep people away. 
• Minimise the risk of spreading contamination to other areas.
• Get advice from an expert such as an asbestos assessor or a suitably qualified health and safety consultant. You can call our advisory team on 0800 555 339 and we will guide you through your next steps. 

Removing asbestos 

• All friable asbestos removal work must be carried out by a licensed asbestos removalist. This includes work on asbestos lagging, asbestos insulation, and damaged asbestos board. 
• If more than 10 m2 of non-friable asbestos has to be removed during a project, it must be removed by a licensed asbestos removalist. 
• You can refer here for a register of Licensed Asbestos removalists .

You can view the SafeWork Australia  website to find out how to apply the 10 m2 rule to an object that is not flat, such as asbestos piping and other frequently asked questions relating to Asbestos Licensing here

Here at HazardCo, we always want to be better, and the HazardCo team has been working hard to deliver the latest update which focuses on the scanning in and out feature on our HazardCo App.

Taking onboard feedback from our valued members, our new App update makes it even easier to get everyone using the free HazardCo App to scan in and out of site, each and every day.

What’s changed?
Your team and wider crew won’t have to enter their details every time – just the once, saving them more time so they can get onto the tools.

If it’s your first time on-site
The first time anyone scans into any HazardCo site, they will need to enter their details and complete their site induction. If they already have a HazardCo account, their details will be pre-populated.

Every time after that
For any site that they have visited before, they won’t be asked if it’s their first site visit as the App will remember them and their logged details.

The App will now ask you to contact your site supervisor if your responses aren’t satisfactory e.g. if you are showing COVID symptoms.

The updates to the App are here now, so if you don’t allow automatic App updates on your smartphone, you’ll need to update the App from the App Store or Google Play. Easy as that.

Lastly, tell everyone! Your next Toolbox Meeting is a great time to get your team and subbies to update the HazardCo App on their smartphone and remind them to scan in and out of site, every time.

Simply scanning in gives people a useful daily reminder to beware of health and safety – and we all know the more we think about it, the more we look out for and prevent risks. Getting everyone doing their bit shares the load when it comes to health and safety on-site. It’s a win-win!

Hazardous substances refer to chemicals or substances which can be toxic, corrosive and can cause harm. So it makes sense that we document what’s on-site and when.

If you have hazardous substances on-site, there are processes that, by law, you need to follow to ensure they are stored, used, and disposed of correctly and to reduce the risk to anyone that uses or comes into contact with them.

On 1 January 2021, Australia began a two-year transition to the revised edition of the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS 7). This new system replaces the previous Approved Criteria for Classifying Hazardous Substances.

Despite the transition period, we recommend you start making the changes to labelling, SDS, and packaging as soon as possible.

You can find out more about the changes below so you can make sure you are up to date with the latest info.

There has been changes to the Hazard Classifications, and you will no longer use the following classes for your hazardous substances:

• Class 1 Explosives
• Class 2 Flammability gases
• Class 3 Flammability liquids
• Class 4 Flammability solids
• Class 5 Oxidising
• Class 6 Toxic
• Class 8 Corrosive
• Class 9 Ecotoxic

The new GHS7 for hazardous substances will be classed as a physical hazard, a health hazard or an environmental hazard, detailed below:

Physical hazards

• Explosives
• Flammable gases
• Flammable aerosols
• Oxidising gases
• Gases under pressure
  • Compressed gas
  • Liquefied gas
  • Dissolved gas
  • Refrigerated liquefied gas
• Flammable liquids
• Flammable solids
• Pyrophoric liquids
• Pyrophoric solids
• Self-heating substances
• Substances and mixtures which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases 
• Oxidising liquids
• Oxidising solids
• Organic peroxides
• Corrosive to metals

Health hazards

• Acute toxicity: Oral, dermal, inhalation
• Skin corrosion/irritation
• Serious eye damage/eye irritation
• Sensitisation of the Respiratory tract or skin 
• Germ cell mutagenicity
• Carcinogenicity
• Reproductive toxicity
• Specific target organ – toxicity single exposure
• Specific target organ toxicity – repeated exposure
• Aspiration hazard

Environmental hazards

• Hazardous to the aquatic environment
• Hazardous to the terrestrial environment. (This hazard class is not part of the GHS 7 classification system, but was added to ensure risks to the terrestrial environment continue to be managed.

What this means for you

You will need to ensure that your SDS, packaging and labelling of substances has been updated to reflect the new classes or you are in the process of updating. This can be done by reaching out to the supplier or manufacturer of substances.

What is a Hazardous substance register?
This is a list of all your hazardous substances (including hazardous waste) that is used, handled, or stored at any of your sites or workplaces. Having a register will ensure you know the substances you have on-site, the requirements you need-to-know, and what to do in case of an emergency.

Keeping a Hazardous substance register
Keeping your register in a central location on your site means that in case of an emergency, it can be accessed quickly by anyone who needs it. There are some key bits of information that need to be included on your hazardous substance registers. Not only do you need the information below, but you must also make sure that the register is up to date and available on-site. 

• The name of the substance 
• Issue date of the current safety data sheet t
• The maximum quantity that is stored at the workplace
• Where it’s located
• Specific storage requirements
• Any hazardous waste

Because the register represents the maximum amount of the substance held, it means it’s not going to be a daily task to keep it up-to-date. But if the maximum quantity changes, the register needs to reflect this. We recommend that you review your register each time you make a change to ensure it’s up to date and accurate.

HazardCo was formed when a couple of tradies decided they’d seen enough of the damage caused by a “she’ll be right” approach on construction sites. They thought it was high time for a new attitude towards health and safety, so they created HazardCo to make on-site health and safety more straightforward. HazardCo encourages safer sites and at the same time saves builders and subbies both time and paperwork.

HazardCo has continued to innovate with improvements to its tools and features which focus on delivering what builders and subbies need most – to save time and get back on the tools as soon as possible, while making sites safer, and helping teams reduce unnecessary incidents.

HazardCo never wants to forget this core purpose, so has its own ambassador – Joe@HazardCo, a true blue tradie at heart. As  someone  on the tools, Joe is at the forefront of HazardCo’s minds when developing new product updates, templates and tools. Joe keeps HazardCo focused on the things that make a real difference to everyone working in the construction industry today.

HazardCo’s been around long enough to grow with the industry, and with Joe’s help, will continue to make on-site health and safety both simpler and more effective. As Joe would say, “It’s a win-win mate – you get to save time, save paperwork, and have confidence your health and safety is sorted, so why wouldn’t ya?!”