See below for our most frequently asked questions:
The Code of practice is the minimum standard required by contractors to meet when managing the risks with RCS. Courts would refer to the Code as a baseline for determining your responsibilities in controlling Silica Dust as a PCBU.
This will be a fairly large shift for most contractors from an administration point of view. The main features are:
a) When a worker is required to wear Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) in accordance with the COP Appendix 4 Controls Table, the instance must be recorded with a number of items documented.
b) Once a worker reaches 30 exposure days, the PCBU must then pay for Health Monitoring of the worker.
c) The exposure tally is calculated for the previous 12 month period.
d) A worker can be exposed to Silica dust multiple times in a day but the instance will only tally for 1 (one) day towards the 30-day Health Monitoring tally.
e) A Silica Dust Control Plan should be developed for each Project outlining the products you will be using, and the controls implemented.
No, the Code specifically states that an exposure instance only needs to be recorded when the controls require the user to use Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) e.g., dust / face mask.
Our App is built around the Code’s Appendix 4 Controls Table. This means that the App will tell you, based on the task and controls you select, whether you need to use RPE or not, which will determine if a record of exposure is required.
In order to make your life easy, we have built into the App the smarts to only register exposure instances that require RPE. The app will not tally those instances
not required to be recorded towards the 30 day exposure health Monitoring threshold.
The Code of Practice is clear in that you can undertake the same or different tasks during the day where you need to wear RPE for the various exposures. If these exposures are on the same day, they will only count towards 1 (one) exposure day.
Our App is designed to interpret the Exposure records and only count as 1 (one) all exposures for a worker for a single day.
We have over 200+ apps active on construction sites across Australia under our previous brand (Forms2Appps). Our development processes are
streamlined and effective.
We are construction people, so this translates to knowing exactly what tools you need to meet your compliance obligations.
Yes, we recommend you do tell your users to record every exposure your workers interact with silica dust, whether the app designates you to or not.
The reason for this is that it is believed that this will be a bigger issue than Asbestos. You can never have enough evidence / documentation around the activities your workers undertake.
What better safety net for a PCBU than to have every possible instance of exposure (whether required under the code or not) for each worker. AND, it takes less than 60 seconds to create an exposure record and emailed pdf report.
Also, should a worker reach the 30 exposure days Health Monitoring tally, the monitoring GP will immediately ask for details of exposures. Providing ‘non-required’ documentation will also provide insight for the GP in how to better manage the worker.
The Silica Exposure App has you covered here as you can print off a register of exposures for each worker at any time. The register will show instances where RPE was also not required, provided the user SAVED the app record.
The Register sends a pdf report for individual workers for the previous 12 months exposures in accordance with the COP.
Yes. Your GP will no doubt want this information to monitor and best meet management plans for the worker.
Yes. You can reuse old plans or create new ones as you wish. The Control Plan meets the COP requirements.
Only users of the app who you have nominated can see the details for workers. Users have the same administration ability as the Admin, but are not able to remove the Admin.
When you first subscribe, you will receive a welcome email with the apps download link and installation instructions. In this email, you will also receive a payment portal link which enables you to edit your number of users and business information. You will also be shown how to add a new worker in the app also. When you add a worker, we are alerted and add the user to the app.
Yes. Please contact info@constructionapps.com.au and we will be in touch.
No. This app is a month to month contract and you can cancel anytime. Variations to payments take effect at the end of each billing period (eg end of month).
We'd love to hear from you. Send us a message and we will respond to you as soon as possible