Prepare To Work Safely in Construction Industry

This unit of competency specifies the mandatory work health and safety training required prior to undertaking construction work. The unit requires the person to demonstrate personal awareness and knowledge of health and safety legislative requirements in order to work safely and prevent injury or harm to self and others.

It covers identifying and orally reporting common construction hazards, understanding basic risk control measures, and identifying procedures for responding to potential incidents and emergencies. It also covers correctly selecting and fitting common personal protective equipment (PPE) used for construction work.

This unit meets the general construction induction training requirements of:

Part 1.1 Definitions and Part 6.5 of the Model Work Health and Safety Regulations; Division 11 of Part 3 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 for Western Australia; and Division 3 of Part 5.1 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 for Victoria. It is expected that site-specific induction training will be conducted prior to conducting construction work.

Licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to this unit. Relevant work health and safety state and territory regulatory authorities should be consulted to confirm jurisdictional requirements.

What Is White Card? 

A White Card is a Construction Induction Card that is issued to a person after successful completion of the Construction Induction. The formal name and code of this course is CPCCWHS1001 – Prepare to work safely in the construction industry.

Construction Induction training covers the following areas:

• Rights and responsibilities under WHS/OHS law

• Common hazards and risks in the construction industry

• Basic risk management principles

The standard of behaviour expected of workers on construction sites In Victoria, Construction Induction Cards (or White Cards) are issued by WorkSafe Victoria.

White Cards are national and accepted in every Australian state and territory.

Who Needs A White Card

The National Code of Practice for Induction for Construction Work states that General Induction training is required for:

• All persons who carry out construction work, including site managers and supervisors, surveyors, labourers and trades persons

• All persons who access operational construction zones unaccompanied or not directly supervised by an inducted person

• All persons whose employment causes them to routinely enter operational construction zones.

WorkSafe Victoria’s Handbook for the Construction Regulations “Working safely in the general construction industry” states that:

• Employers must ensure that anyone employed to do construction work has completed Construction Induction training (also known as White Card training) before they start work.

• This includes apprentices and anyone who is doing pre-apprenticeship training at the site.

• It also includes any employee who has not actually done any construction work in the past two years, even if they have previously completed an induction.