This is a summary of our construction guide. Download the guide for more information. You can print the construction poster for your business.
The construction industry includes:
- residential and non-residential construction
- building structure services
- installation services
- heavy and civil engineering
- land development and site preparation.
Your legal obligations
The Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window) establishes the legal framework for protecting human health and the environment in Victoria from pollution and waste.
Duties
The Act sets out 13 duties to protect human health and the environment. Duties apply to individuals and businesses.
The general environmental duty applies to any activity that creates a risk of harm to human health and the environment.
Other duties may also apply to your activities, including:
- duty to manage contaminated land
- duty to notify us of contaminated land
- duty to notify us of a notifiable incident
- duty to take action to respond to harm caused by a pollution incident
- unreasonable noise duty
- waste duties.
Regulations
The Environment Protection Regulations 2021(opens in a new window) support the Act to address some risks of harm that need further controls.
There may be specific requirements that apply to your activities under the Regulations – for example:
- noisy or smoky vehicles
- ozone depleting substances, like methyl bromide and chlorofluorocarbons.
Permissions
Under the environment protection legislation, we issue permissions for some activities. These include licences, permits and registrations. Different types of permissions have different requirements.
Examples of activities relating to construction that require a permission include:
- A13a – Waste and resource recovery (large)
- A13c – Waste and resource recovery (small)
- A17 – Containment of Category D waste soil
- A18 – Discharge or deposit waste to an aquifer
- A19 – Temporary onsite waste treatment
- A22 – Temporary storage (asbestos)
- A23 – Temporary storage (designated waste)
- H01 – Cement works
- H04 – Mineral wool works.
Compliance and enforcement
We:
- support businesses to comply with the law through guidance and education
- enforce the law if the environment or community is deliberately or negligently exposed to harm.
Our authorised officers visit businesses and premises to:
- conduct inspections
- provide advice
- assess compliance with the law and any specific permission conditions.
Local councils also have powers to enforce certain environmental laws.
Risk management
It's your responsibility to understand and manage the risk of harm to human health and the environment from pollution and waste from any work you do.
Use a risk management process to help you eliminate or reduce risks so far as reasonably practicable.
Common construction hazards
A hazard is something that can cause harm to human health and the environment, particularly if it’s not managed well.
As part of the risk management process, you must identify hazards and assess their risks.
Common hazards in the construction industry include:
- asbestos waste
- chemical storage and handling
- dust
- erosion and sediment
- noise
- odour
- stormwater contamination
- treated timber waste
- wastewater.
This is not a complete list, but it gives you an idea of some construction hazards that may impact human health and the environment. Every site is different and has a unique set of hazards and risks.
If you need more information to better understand hazards in your industry, sources of information include:
- Department of Transport and Planning for information about Victoria’s planning system
- Local councils for information on building regulations and the Victorian planning schemes and what they mean for your operations
- VicRoads for information about Victoria’s road regulatory framework
- Victorian Building Authority for information about Victoria’s building regulatory framework
- WorkSafe Victoria for guidance and advice about health and safety at your workplace, including storing, handling and transporting dangerous goods and controlling exposure to crystalline silica.
Our Civil construction, building and demolition guide also provides more detail about specific hazards in the construction industry.
Control measures
The controls you put in place depend on your business activities and hazards.
Check controls regularly to make sure that they’re working, well maintained and effective and that they remain the most appropriate option.
For more information about controls, download:
- our construction guide – you can use the action plan (Appendix A) as a template to list actions you can take to improve the way you control risks.
- Civil construction, building and demolition guide.
- Reducing risk in the premixed concrete industry.
We also have some information about controls on our website:
Assess and minimise air pollution from your business
Control dust from your business
Control noise from your business
Control odour from your business
Manage and dispose of treated timber
Manage and store combustible recyclable and waste materials
Manage electronic waste for reprocessing
Manage erosion and sediment from your business
Manage fire risk at your business
Manage PFAS-contaminated materials and waste
Minimise greenhouse gas emissions from your business
Industry example
This example shows you how to use the risk management process to manage waste materials from construction activities.
Identify hazards and assess risks
Rayna is a registered builder and works on construction and demolition sites with industrial waste materials such as bricks, concrete, timber and steel.
Rayna keeps up with industry news and guidance from EPA on how to safely store industrial waste on site and how to legally dispose of it.
At every worksite and during toolbox sessions, Rayna routinely identifies all the likely types of industrial waste and solid materials that may become unwanted. Rayna plans ahead to find a suitable location for these industrial waste materials and assesses the risks and impact on nearby neighbours, drains and local waterways.
Put controls in place
Rayna stores the masonry and other solid industrial waste materials either in:
- a designated stockpile, which is placed away from drainage and not piled too high
- clearly labelled waste bins for each type of waste.
Rayna prefers to reuse or recycle where possible, because it’s one of the best ways to reduce the chance of the materials harming the environment. It also saves time and money that might otherwise be spent looking for items or sourcing new materials.
Rayna segregates the industrial waste into types. Masonry and other solid materials that can’t be reused or recycled are sent to a place that’s lawfully able to receive them.
Rayna arranges for industrial waste containing asbestos to be:
- transported by a vehicle with an EPA permission
- disposed of at a waste facility licensed to accept it.
Rayna uses Waste Tracker to inform EPA each time this reportable priority waste changes hands.
Check controls
Knowing that conditions on site always change, Rayna:
- does inspections at the start and end of each day
- checks that all solid waste and rubble is sorted and stockpiled appropriately.
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