Name the critical risks for this project
Not a generic list. On a given project it is usually a handful: falls from height, mobile plant and people interaction, contact with energised services, trench collapse, crane and lifting operations, structural stability during temporary conditions.
A site that names fifteen critical risks has not prioritised; it has relabelled its hazard register.
Define the controls that must never be absent
For each critical risk, identify the small number of controls whose absence means the risk is effectively uncontrolled — the physical barrier, the isolation, the exclusion zone, the proof test.
These are different from the long list of good practices. The test is simple: if this control is missing, could someone be killed today?
Verify those controls specifically
- In the field, where the work is, not from a desk.
- By someone competent to judge whether the control is adequate, not just present.
- Recording what was observed, including when it was correct.
- At a frequency driven by the risk and by how often conditions change.
- With a clear rule that work stops if a critical control is absent.
Why this beats auditing everything
A general audit spreads attention thinly and tends to generate many low-consequence findings, because those are the easiest to see. Critical risk verification accepts that some findings will be missed in order to be certain about the ones that matter.
It also gives supervisors something they can actually do every day, rather than a quarterly exercise.
The failure mode
Critical control verification becomes a form. Someone ticks the controls without attending the work, and the record becomes evidence that verification was performed when it was not. If the verification record never contains an adverse finding, that is a signal worth investigating.
Common questions
What is a critical control?
A control whose absence or failure would substantially remove protection against a risk that can cause death or serious permanent injury.
How many critical risks should a construction project have?
Few enough that supervisors can name them without looking. On most construction projects that is a handful, not a register.
Where we work. Standard service area: Gold Coast, Logan, Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast. Outside this area, contact Obras for availability and a tailored quote — additional travel and site attendance costs may apply.
General information only. This guide describes common construction practice. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for the WHS legislation applying in your jurisdiction, which differs between states and territories. Obras does not certify or guarantee compliance — nobody honestly can. Your officers keep every duty under the WHS Act.