The Building Code of Australia specifies manufacturing and construction standards in order to guarantee a minimum acceptable level of production in Australia. The CodeMark Product Certification Scheme in particular was introduced to evaluate and certify products utilised within the building supply chain that had been produced to acceptable quality. Despite this, non-conforming and non-compliant products and practices are overabundant within the Australian market. A 2013 survey revealed that more than nine out of ten firms reported non-conforming products in their supply chains. Firms that had reported positively in this regard suggested market penetration of such products were between 11 and 50 per cent of what was available.
Bang for your buck: non-compliance and its connection to personal injury is a new whitepaper commissioned by access ladder experts AM-BOSS that has recently been released.
The whitepaper discusses current initiatives to tackle the challenge of non-conformity and non-compliance, before moving on to examine the dangers of specifying cheaper, lower-quality products. Despite the cost incentive, the consequences of such can be seen in incidents such as the Lacrosse Tower Fire in Melbourne or the more recent Grenfell Tower Fire, where the use of illegal, flammable cladding resulted in the deaths of at least 58 people.
The paper goes on to examine another practice that commonly leads to injuries – ladder usage, before discussing better alternatives to the oft-relied upon freestanding ladder. Four fifths of deaths that resulted from a fall from height happened during general maintenance tasks such as maintaining roofs or air conditioning units, and not on a construction site as one might expect. Injuries (fatal or otherwise) occurring from ladder falls are more common than any other cause.
The whitepaper is free to download and comes with additional information on AM-BOSS’s industry-leading certification.
To find out more about the relationship between personal safety and non-compliance, click here to download Bang for your buck: non-compliance and its connection to personal injury.
