ACT Construction Occupations

Transmittal Certificate

• View copy of Transmittal Certificate

Compliance Statement

The ACT Construction Occupations Registrar’s Annual Report must comply with the 2017 Annual Report Directions (the Directions). The Directions are found at the ACT Legislation Register: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2017-280/notification.asp.

The Compliance Statement indicates the subsections, under the five Parts of the Directions, that are applicable to the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar and the information that satisfies these requirements:

Part 1 Directions Overview

The requirements under Part 1 of the Directions relate to the purpose, timing and distribution, and records keeping of annual reports. The ACT Construction Occupations Registrar’s Annual Report complies with all subsections of Part 1 under the Directions.

In compliance with section 13 Feedback, Part 1 of the Directions, contact details for ACT Construction Occupations Registrar are provided within the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar’s Annual Report to provide readers with the opportunity to provide feedback.

Part 2 Agency Annual Report Requirements

The requirements within Part 2 of the Directions are mandatory for all directorates and public sector bodies and the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar’s Annual Report complies with all subsections. The information that satisfies the requirements of Part 2 is found in the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar’s Annual Report as follows:

• Transmittal Certificate, see page 288;
• Organisational Overview and Performance, inclusive of all subsections, see page 290;
• Financial Management Reporting, inclusive of all subsections, is contained within the CMTEDD Annual report.

Part 3 Reporting by Exception

The ACT Construction Occupations Registrar has nil information to report by exception under Part 3 of the Directions for the 2017-18 reporting period.

Part 4 Directorate and Public Sector Body Specific Annual Report Requirements

There are no specific annual report requirements for the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar

Part 5 Whole of Government Annual Reporting

All subsections of Part 5 of the Directions apply to the ACT Construction Occupations Registrar. Consistent with the Directions, the information satisfying these requirements is reported in the one place for all ACTPS Directorates, as follows:

• N. Community Engagement and Support, see the annual report of Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate;
• O. Justice and Community Safety, including all subsections O.1 – O.4, see the annual report of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate;
• P. Public Sector Standards and Workforce Profile, including all subsections P.1 – P.3, see the annual State of the Service Report; and
• Q. Territory Records, see the annual report of Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic, Development Directorate.

ACT Public Service Directorate annual reports are found at the following web address:http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/report/annual_reports.

Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004

This annual report has been prepared according to Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 (the COLA). (s.112 Annual Report by Registrar) and Construction Occupations (Licensing) Regulation 2004 (s.44 Information in report to Minister).

COLA Inspectorates

The Construction Occupations Registrar utilises three key inspectorates to audit activities within the construction industry – the Construction Audit team, the Electrical Inspectorate and the Plumbing/Gasfitting Inspectorate. The teams focus on compliance of each of the licensed occupations within the construction industry, and the auditing and inspection of the works of licensees, specifically around the safety aspects of compliance of their work and installations.

Responsibilities rely on effective carriage and operation under a range of construction industry laws including the Building Act 2004, the COLA, the Electricity Safety Act 1971, the Gas Safety Act 2000, the Planning and Development Act 2007 (P&D Act), the Water and Sewerage Act 2000, and the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 and various regulations and instruments.

• The Construction Audit team - conducts audits and site inspections of the work of building certifiers, builders and building assessors, predominantly within the housing and residential apartment sectors.
• The Electrical Inspectorate - conducts mandatory inspections on all new electrical installations in relation to electrical safety compliance with the Electricity Safety Act 1971 and all associated Australian Standards.
• The Plumbing and Gasfitting Inspectorate - inspects plumbing, drainage and gasfitting work undertaken by licensed plumbers, drainers and gasfitters. The inspectorate validates submissions for the installation of Type B gas appliances in domestic and commercial applications and also investigates complaints and undertakes disciplinary actions where necessary.

Construction Audit

The primary role of the Construction Audit Team is to protect the public/land owners by ensuring that licensed building surveyors, builders and building assessors (licensees) are meeting their legislative obligations. This is achieved by auditing work undertaken by licensees and utilising the engage, educate and enforce approach of Access Canberra in order to achieve compliance.

The team also conducts audits on residential energy ratings issued by licensed building assessors on new building work and for sale and lease of residential premises.

Performance

There were 4,636 building approvals issued in the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. The Construction Audit Team undertook a combination of site audits and documentation compliance audits across all National Construction Code, Building Code of Australia (BCA) classes. The focus of the Construction Audit Team has been on class 1 buildings, which are typically single dwelling homes, class 2 buildings, typically apartment buildings and class 10, non-habitable buildings including garages, sheds and pergolas. The following tables list the type, number and broad outcome of each audit activity during 2017-18.

Table 1: Number of audits of building approvals for Class 1 and Class 10 Buildings

Table 2: Engagement and Educate Response to areas of Non-conformity on residential
building approvals for Class 1 and Class 10 Buildings

Table 3: Number of audits of building approvals for Class 2 to 9 Buildings

Table 4: Engagement and Educate Response to areas of Non-conformity on residential  building approvals for class 2 to 9 Buildings

There were 6,341 energy efficiency reports registered for the sale of residential premises in the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018. The Construction Audit Team undertook 298 audits of sale of residential premises energy ratings and 167 audits of building approval energy ratings. The following tables list the type, number and broad outcome of each audit activity during 2017-18.

Table 5: Number of audits of Sale of Residential Premises and BCA/Building Approval  compliance energy ratings

Table 6: Engagement and Educate Response to areas of Non-conformity on energy  efficiency reports

Notes: Building classifications under the National Construction Code – Building Code of Australia

• 
  Class 1 one or more buildings which in association constitute - a detached house, one of a group of two or more attached dwellings (a row house, terrace house, town house or villa unit) a boarding house, guest house, hostel or the like. Which are not located above or below another dwelling or another Class of building other than a private garage.
• Class 2 means a building containing two or more sole-occupancy units each being a separate dwelling.
• Class 3 means a residential building, other than a building of class 1 or 2, which is a common place of long term or transient living for a number of unrelated persons.
• Class 4 means a dwelling in a building that is class 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 if it is the only dwelling in the building.
• Class 5 means an office building used for professional or commercial purposes, excluding buildings of class 6, 7, 8 or 9.
• Class 6 means a shop or other building for the sale of goods by retail or the supply of services direct to the public.
• Class 7 means a building which is a car park, storage, or display of goods or produce for sale by wholesale.
• Class 8 means a laboratory or a building in which a handicraft or process for the production, assembling, altering, repairing, packing, finishing, or cleaning of goods or produce is carried on for trade, sale, or gain.
• Class 9 means a building of a public nature.
• Class 10 means a non-habitable building or structure.

A building or part of a building may have more than one classification applying to the whole building or to the whole of that part of the building.

Electrical Inspectorate

The Electrical Inspectorate inspects electrical wiring work undertaken by licensed electricians, assists other investigation branches of Access Canberra and other Government agencies with investigations of electrical complaints and incidents, and where necessary, imposes disciplinary actions or sanctions against licence holders. The inspectorate also investigates electric shock incidents and monitors product safety.

During 2017-18 the Inspectorate:

• received 27,393 Certificates of Electrical Safety lodgements;
• undertook 8,581 inspections of new electrical work; and
• conducted 11,464 inspections on a random basis of alterations and additions to existing electrical installations.

The inspectorate continues to work closely with the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate in assisting with the delivery of energy efficiency programs and with the installation of battery backup systems to existing and new renewable energy systems.

The inspectorate works closely with the ACT’s two Registered Training Organisations, the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) and Global Energy Training Solutions. Inspectors meet with their students and engage with them throughout the year through participating in their industry consultation and verification of competency committees.

In the 2017-18 financial year, 33 apprentices were hosted by the electrical inspectors for varying periods between 1 to 5 days, to assist the apprentices with the preparations for their final exam and to expose the apprentices to the electrical testing work the inspectors perform. The inspection team also host CIT trainers, to assist the CIT with their professional development plans on as need basis.

Plumbing and Gasfitting Inspectorate

The Plumbing and Gasfitting Inspectorate inspects plumbing, drainage and gasfitting work undertaken by licensed plumbers, drainers and gasfitters. The team also investigates complaints and undertakes disciplinary action where necessary.

The inspectorate validates submissions for the installation of Type B gas appliances in domestic and commercial applications. Type B gas appliances are described as gas appliances with gas consumption over 10 mega joules per hour for which a certification scheme does not exist.

During 2017-18 the Plumbing and Gasfitting Inspectorate:

• inspected 13,038 plumbing installations and 2,668 gas installations, which was an decrease of 519 plumbing installation inspections and a decrease of 145 gas installation inspections respectively on the prior financial year;
• validated 65 Type B gas validations, which was an decrease of 9 validations on the previous year;
• has been proactive in working with CIT on a successful validation of assessment project; and
• management also attended several meetings of the Master Plumbers Association to keep industry informed of any regulatory changes.

National Forums

The Inspectorates support the Deputy Director-General, Access Canberra, Director Regulatory Solutions and Compliance Division and the Construction Occupations Registrar in various national forums.

The Division is engaged in reforms initiated by the National Construction Code and the work of the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency as it relates to building, construction and regulated equipment. Officers from the Division provide input into national standards and policy reforms.

The level of activity and call for officers to participate in national discussions continues to be high, particularly for any national licensing reforms and safety and environmental standards. Officers represent the ACT and its interests in the following national forums:

• National Plumbing Regulators Forum;
• National Building Regulators Forum;
• National Building Code Committee;
• Plumbing Code Committee;
• Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council;
• Australasian Building Certifiers Forum;
• Gas Technical Regulators Committee;
• Energy Supply Industry Safety Committee;
• Australian Standards Committees; and
• Industry Skills Councils.

Licensing

The COLA creates nine construction occupations.  Each occupation is then divided into classes of licence of which there are 49.  For the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 there were 1,680 new licences issued with table 7, below identifying the split across each occupation and occupation class. In addition, there were 5,090 renewals of construction occupation licences.

Table 7: New Construction Licences Issued by class 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018

The construction licensing team has digitized the renewal reminder process. Renewal reminders are now sent exclusively via SMS and e-mail. The licensing team send between 500 and 700 reminders each month to construction licensees. The notification to licensees includes a link to Access Canberra’s online renewal form which means licensees no longer need to attend a service centre to renew their licence.

Class C Builder Licensing Exam

In 2017-2018 61 individuals undertook the Class C Builder licence examination. Results of the examination are identified in table 8 below.

Table 8 Class C Builder Licence examinations

Note: *Where there are two unsuccessful attempts the application is refused. The third and fourth attempts are from a new application being made by an individual that previously failed on their first application (1 and 2^nd attempts at the examination).

Responsive Compliance

Building and Construction Complaints

The Construction Occupations Registrar applies a risk-based compliance approach to ensure resources are targeted to where the risks of harm, unsafe practices or misconduct are the greatest, thereby strengthening the capacity to take action where the community, workers and the environment are most at risk.

There are three strategic objectives central to the role of regulating the building and construction industry.

• Protection – through our actions we seek to protect the community from harm. We act to minimise risks to safety, health, sustainability and amenity and minimise financial loss from unlawful conduct;
• Prevention – we aim to limit and prevent harm, damage or economic loss by promoting compliance with the suite of construction legislation administered by the Construction Occupations Registrar; and
• Rectification – we may require people who have not complied with their obligations to rectify or remedy identified issues.

The aim is to achieve compliance by utilising the three fundamental steps of engage, educate and enforce. Compliance is encouraged through education but escalating enforcement actions are applied to those whose conduct will, or is likely to, cause harm, or those who demonstrate a disregard for the law. Engage means ensuring that there is a positive working relationship with stakeholders and members of the community. Educate means taking reasonable steps to ensure people know how to comply. We provide information to the industry and community to promote understanding and to encourage voluntary compliance. The Access Canberra website provides links to a number of publications and facts sheets which includes information relating to particular areas of the construction processes and legislative obligations. Enforce means taking action when
non-compliance occurs proportional to the harm caused by the conduct.

Like any regulatory regime, the optimal outcome is voluntary compliance. Education has a key role to play in maximising compliance by ensuring lack of information is not a contributing factor to non-compliance.

During 2017–18 Access Canberra received 546 complaints relating to building and construction.
289 complaints were resolved during the period. Some complaints related to multiple licensees under various occupations pertaining to individual building sites.

The types of complaints received against specific occupations include allegations of:

Builders:

• non-compliance with the National Construction Code;
• non-compliance with approved plans;
• no approved plans;
• no development approval; and
• building quality - defective work.

Building Surveyors:

• breach of planning laws;
• unlawful building unlawful building approval;
• breach of building code;
• refusal to lodge papers for certificate of occupancy and use; and
• improper association with builders.

Electricians:

• poorly installed electrical installations;
• faulty wiring; and
• electrical complaints in general.

Plumbers:

• non-compliant works related to sewerage, drainage, water plumbing, rainwater installations and grey water installations.

Disciplinary Actions

A total of 133 demerit points were issued to construction occupations licensees in 2017-2018. There were no referrals for occupational discipline to the ACAT.

Advisory Boards

Under Part 10 of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004, the registrar must establish an advisory board for a construction occupation.

Three Boards are established, the Building Advisory Board, the Electrical Advisory Board and the Plumbing Advisory Board. They have the following functions:

• to provide advice about qualifications for the construction occupation if asked by the Minister;
• to help with investigations for the construction occupation if asked by the registrar; and
• to help develop and maintain information about emerging issues in the construction industry related to the construction occupation if asked by the registrar.

The advisory boards did not meet during 2017-2018.

Further information may be obtained from:

Mr Ben Green
Construction Occupations Registrar
A/g Director, Regulatory Solutions and Compliance Access Canberra
+61 2 6207 7387
ben.green@act.gov.au