October is National Safe Work Month 2026. This year's theme, "Safe work is for life" is particularly relevant to building and construction where exposure to dust, fumes, chemicals, noise and vibrations can affect workers’ health and lives, long after the work is completed.  

Throughout Safe Work Month, the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (OFSC) is encouraging builders to review how they identify and manage workplace health hazards and look beyond immediate safety risks with a focus on audit criterion WH14 of the WHS Accreditation Scheme. 

WH14 requires accredited builders to have documented processes for identifying potential health hazards, assessing worker exposure, and undertaking exposure monitoring and health surveillance where workers are at risk of immediate and long-term health impacts. 

What are audits telling us? 

Recent audit findings show that many accredited builders have documented WH14 procedures in place but cannot always demonstrate those procedures are being implemented on-site.  

Some of the most common issues OFSC audits identify with WH14 include: 

1. health hazards specific to the project not being identified 
2. risk assessments not clearly specifying what needs to be assessed 
3. processes not reflecting statutory obligations, Australian standards or codes of practice 
4. health surveillance and exposure monitoring processes lacking specific detail 
5. no evidence being found that required monitoring has occurred 
6. a builder’s documented processes not being followed in practice. 

Accredited builders need both effective systems in place and records that show WH14 processes are working.