You may be required to comply with this code if you conduct a business that involves excavation work or have a duty to manage the risks of excavation work.
Excavation work means work to make an excavation or to fill or partly fill an excavation. This commonly involves the removal of soil or rock from a site to form an open face, hole or cavity, including trenches, shafts and tunnels. Excavation work is generally carried out using tools, machinery or explosives.
Following this code of practice will assist you achieve compliance with your legal obligations under work health and safety laws. However, compliance with such obligations may be achieved by following another method, if it provides an equivalent or higher standard of work health and safety than that set out in this code.
Duties in relation to excavation work include:
- managing health and safety risks associated with excavation work
- managing hazards and implementing control measures (e.g. equipment, public safety, ground vibration and weather).
