Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and equivalent state legislation, principal contractors and employers must keep records of workplace incidents, identified hazards, safety inspections, and training. Most construction contracts also impose an express obligation to maintain a daily site diary as a condition for making delay or variation claims. A daily diary covers both in a single record.
What are the WHS record-keeping requirements?
Australian WHS legislation requires employers and contractors to record and retain records of notifiable incidents, including serious injuries and dangerous incidents, for a minimum of five years. Safe Work Australia guidance recommends also maintaining records of workplace incidents and near-misses, hazard identification and risk assessments, toolbox talks and worker inductions, plant and equipment inspections, and SWMS reviews.
State regulators have additional specific requirements. SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe Victoria, SafeWork SA, and WorkSafe Queensland each publish guidance on construction site record-keeping. Check the requirements for the jurisdiction where you're working. They're consistent in principle, different in specifics.
What that means on the ground: if there's a serious incident and the inspector shows up, the first thing they ask for is your records. No incident log, no near-miss register, no toolbox talk records. That's not just a gap in your paperwork. It becomes the centre of the investigation.
This is general information. For specific obligations applicable to your project and circumstances, consult your WHS adviser or legal counsel.
What do my contracts require me to record?
Most standard-form Australian construction contracts, including AS 4000, AS 2124, AS 4300, and NEC4, require the contractor to maintain site records made at the time as a condition for making claims. Extension of time applications, delay claims, and variation entitlements all require supporting evidence. That evidence is the site diary.
Some contracts are explicit: no record made at the time, no entitlement to claim. Others are silent on format but require "adequate substantiation." In practice, a daily diary is the expected standard of substantiation.
If you work as a subcontractor, your subcontract agreement may impose the same obligation. Read the records and reporting clause. Then keep the diary.
What counts as a record?
A record is any document, written, digital, photographic, or audio, that captures information about a workplace event at the time it occurred. Made at the time means you logged it when it happened, not written from memory later.
A site diary entry made during the working day is a record made at the time. A summary written from memory three days after a delay event is not, and carries less weight accordingly. This is why the timing of entries matters as much as their content.
State-specific requirements
Each state and territory regulator operates under its own WHS legislation, though most have harmonised with the model WHS Act. The practical differences matter:
- NSW (SafeWork NSW). Requires records of notifiable incidents, hazard registers, plant inspection records, and SWMS for high-risk construction work.
- Victoria (WorkSafe Victoria). Maintains its own OHS Act framework with equivalent record-keeping obligations and specific requirements for major construction projects.
- Queensland (WorkSafe Queensland). Harmonised model WHS legislation, with additional licensing and record requirements for certain plant and equipment.
- South Australia (SafeWork SA). Harmonised WHS legislation, consistent incident record-keeping requirements applying to all construction sites.
- Western Australia. Harmonised to model WHS legislation in 2022; requirements now broadly consistent with other states.
The principle is consistent: records must be kept, must be accessible, and must cover the categories listed above. The specific thresholds and notification periods vary. Check the regulator for your jurisdiction.
Does a digital diary satisfy these requirements?
Yes. Electronic records are recognised under Australian evidence legislation and are accepted under WHS regulations as valid records, provided they demonstrate authenticity and have not been altered since creation. Timestamped PDF reports from diary entries made at the time meet this standard.
Check your specific contract for any requirements about record format or storage location. Most contracts don't care about the format these days, but some older or very specific documents may still require paper.
What about subcontractors?
Subcontractors carry the same WHS obligations as principal contractors in respect of their own workers and their own scope of work. If you employ workers or engage them under a labour hire arrangement, you're an employer under WHS legislation, and the record-keeping requirements apply to you directly.
Your subcontract agreement will typically also require you to maintain your own daily diary. Principal contractors increasingly require subcontractors to provide records as part of progress claim substantiation. Keeping your own diary protects you in both directions: against claims you caused delays, and in support of claims for variations and extensions of time.
The bottom line
Site supervisors operating in Australia have record-keeping obligations that come from two directions: WHS legislation, which requires safety and incident records for at least five years; and construction contracts, which require a contemporaneous site diary as a condition for making claims. The same diary entry can satisfy both. The daily habit of logging events as they happen, not from memory at end of day, is what makes the record defensible when it matters.