“The residential building industry has made significant strides over the last two decades in managing safety on site with workplace incidents continuing to trend downwards,” said Simon Croft, HIA Chief Executive Industry & Policy.

“Safety on site in the construction industry is a core aspect of the day-to-day work builders and tradies manage in building the homes we all live in and enjoy.

“October is National Safe Work Month, and whilst safety is always front of mind, this provides an important opportunity to take that extra moment to reflect and discuss safety on site.

“The focus on safety on site is particularly important this year, as the industry has had to adapt to a raft of new safety and workplace rules over the past 18 months.

“These rules are continuing to get increasingly complex and extending beyond just physical hazards to cover workplace behaviours and psychosocial hazards and risks.

“Therefore, it is essential that the industry continues to take steps to manage risks, keep workplaces and workers on site safe and healthy as well as understanding and staying ahead of their safety obligations.

“This year’s theme for National Safe Work Month is Safety is everyone’s business. Residential building sites can be dynamic with the number of workers on site varying from day to day, hour to hour making this theme very important for our industry.

“Ensuring everyone coming on to site is across the new safety rules is critical.

“HIA is undertaking a range of activities throughout October to support builders and tradies including new safety videos, sharing our extensive safety information resources and tools, to assist the industry in keeping sites safe.

“HIA encourages everyone walking on site to think about safety as a shared responsibility – if you see something out of place or something that could create a potential hazard – don’t walk by it help to remedy or get assistance in doing so,” concluded Mr Croft.