Page 3164 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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conditions, including ongoing rainfall impacts, engineering design and construction methodologies. This work commenced this week, and it includes technical experts conducting inspections across the territory.
This incident in Dickson follows a similar collapse of shoring at the WOVA construction site in Phillip that occurred on 6 August. The rectification methodology for that site was agreed by Access Canberra and WorkSafe. Access Canberra inspectors continue to undertake fortnightly inspections of that site, and I can advise that rectification work is well underway. These regular inspections will continue until the Construction Occupations Registrar is satisfied that there is no risk to the public or the territory.
Following that incident, on 8 August this year, the registrar wrote to all construction licensees about our unusually wet weather and advised them to ensure site safety, including around excavation and shoring. Further correspondence was then sent by the registrar to the 1,026 class A builders with an active licence in the ACT on Thursday 13 October. That recent letter directed the class A builders to review the stability of their works, including temporary earthworks, retaining walls and basement construction. Builders are required to notify the registrar within seven days of any issues that have been identified and steps taken to address them. So far, the results are encouraging, with a number of class A builders providing immediate responses to that letter.
I will now turn more generally to the legislative framework that covers construction and issues of noncompliance. The Construction Occupations Registrar has a range of options for dealing with noncompliance. Where appropriate for the protection of community safety or to prevent ongoing negative impacts, immediate regulatory action may be taken against builders or developers. For complex building and planning complaints, Access Canberra will undertake detailed investigation and analysis to consider regulatory actions that are proportionate to the issues, informed by the necessary technical professional knowledge, and that are legally defendable.
There are a range of regulatory options that are available to the registrar and Access Canberra. To briefly outline these, under the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act, the registrar may: impose conditions on construction licences to ensure public protection or in response to finding a disciplinary breach; suspend or cancel a licence; and register demerit points for disciplinary breaches. At 15 points worth of disciplinary breaches accrued within a three-year period, the registrar may suspend, cancel or take other disciplinary action. The registrar may: make emergency rectification orders or rectification orders that require a licence holder or former licence holder to undertake rectification work; accept a written undertaking given by an entity relating to the entity’s contravention or alleged contravention of the law; undertake disciplinary action or apply to ACAT for an occupational discipline order; and prosecute offences under the act.
Separately to those powers, under the Building Act 2004 an authorised officer may: issue stop notices on building works; issue notices to carry out building work where work has not been carried out in accordance with the Building Code, the building or part of the building is not structurally sound, or the building or part of the building is unsafe because of fire hazard or unfit for use because of a danger to health; impose an
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