By now it’s fair to assume that commercial property managers, body corporates, and commercial property owners understand they have exposure under health & safety.
Now that we are well over 6 years into the new legislation, do we have any better understanding on what this exactly means?
Yes, we sure do.
In short, it all comes down to Control & Influence. The party that has the most Control & Influence has the greatest deal of exposure. This does not automatically mean that a party who has little control and or influence has zero exposure – far from it. It just means that they have less exposure but by no way are exonerated from any liability.
A core duty for businesses that have control and influence is to communicate with all parties in a collaborative way. The legislation refers to it as ‘consult, coordinate and cooperate’. In layman’s terms we refer to it as ‘The 3 C’s’.
Please note that the 3 C’s does not have a D for dictate. In fact, being dictatorial as appealing as that sometimes can be, is in fact counterintuitive to good risk management. It actually increases one’s exposure and risk under the Act.
The biggest challenge to driving useful communications is time or lack thereof. Most property managers we know are busy people juggling too many balls. Priority typically is given to the fee-paying client resulting in strong contracts and terms. Where we see the short cuts taken is with managing contractors. The folk who do maintenance on the property. Service the lifts, air conditioning, etc. Water blast the building or wash the windows. All the high risk activities!
More on contractors in our next months post.
For now, though, we cannot stress enough that evidence is key. Without evidence you have minimal defense. Evidence means copies of communications; risk management; site inspections; competencies; etc.
What evidence are you creating in how you communicate the property's risks and controls with all other parties?
