Site supervisors take note – from 19 December 2008 it will be mandatory to hold a BSA Site Supervisor Licence.
The Queensland Building Services Authority introduced the Site Supervisor Licence in December 2007. This law was introduced to address a perceived lack of supervision on building sites and requires all supervisors to hold an appropriate licence.
In recognition of the fact that many supervisors in the industry were unlicensed, the BSA introduced a 12 month transitional period upon which supervisors may become licensed without the need to obtain a formal qualification. The transitional period caters for those unlicensed supervisors who have the knowledge and experience to make good supervisors, but lacked the full technical qualifications required for the licence class for which they are supervising building work. The transitional period expires on 19 December 2008.
Before 19 December 2008
To obtain a licence during the transitional period, supervisors merely need a declaration from their employer that they are an experienced site supervisor, despite lacking the full technical qualifications. More specifically, the employer must declare that:
- the supervisor has carried out building work as an officer or employee of the contractor for at least 12 months;
- the contractor has had an opportunity to assess the skills of the supervisor during that period; and
- the contractor is satisfied that the supervisor has the skills to carry out the duties of a site supervisor for the class of licence applied for.
A licence obtained during the transitional period can only be granted in the same class as the employer.
After 19 December 2008
To obtain a licence after the transitional period expires, all site supervisors must hold the relevant technical qualifications for that licence class.
Recommendations
To prevent the paperwork and headache of a lengthy licence application, have your site supervisors take advantage of this transitional period and obtain their site supervisor licence now.
In most cases, this licence class will be relevant to project managers, foremen and other key on-site personnel during a project.
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