Compliance policy
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance on following the Compliance Management Framework.
Scope
Employees are accountable for ensuring compliance with all legislative obligations, standards, and best practice guidance and for putting the necessary controls and processes in place to manage their compliance obligations. All employees are responsible for keeping abreast of changes and updates to existing legislation and identifying new obligations.
Requirements
The following are requirements of the compliance policy.
Best practice
Best practices in compliance cover:
- Professional and honest assessment of client requirements.
- Our dedication to ensure a timely completion of work.
- Creating an understanding and caring environment when the move comes from unplanned circumstances.
- Engaging with the families of our clients to ensure we have a full understanding of our clients’ needs and goals.
- Be timely and courteous in all dealings when carrying out their duties.
- Make all reasonable enquiries to ascertain information relevant to a transaction.
- Provide all verbal and written offers to a client, unless instructed otherwise by a client in writing.
- Minimise disputes with clients.
- Advise clients and consumers about the business’s complaint and dispute resolution procedure.
Compliance obligations
Areas of compliance:
- Licensing/records
- Workplace culture
- Job safety
- Advertising
- Environment
- Electricity
- Managing safety
- Emergency procedures
- Policies and procedures
- Risk management
- Finance.
Compliance reporting
A verification process will be conducted annually at which time all employees will report on the status of compliance.
The annual compliance verification process will include reviewing compliance with legislative obligations and PEER Construction policy.
Business records
When creating documentation ensure you:
- write in plain English and meet PEER Construction branding guidelines
- insert special conditions into agreements
- keep accurate records of all transactions at each office
- record and document all client interactions
- record all transactions by creating computer files for all clients.
Roles and responsibilities
Senior managers
Senior managers hold overarching responsibility for the:
- design and implementation of the Compliance Management Framework.
- coordination, management and maintenance of the Register of Compliance Obligations
- oversight of compliance across PEER Construction.
Managers
Are responsible for overseeing PEER Construction’s compliance with legislation, regulatory requirements, reporting obligations, and PEER Construction policies.
Employees
All employees including independent contractors, subcontractors, apprentices, officers, and directors are responsible for compliance.
All employees must be aware of compliance responsibilities that apply to their activities or work area and ensure their actions on behalf of PEER Construction comply with relevant laws, industry codes and organisational standards. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure employees have appropriate information to ensure compliance.
Implementation and review
The following guidelines are for the implementation and review of the policy.
Implementation
All compliance obligations are important, with PEER Construction having a conservative risk appetite for regulatory and compliance risk. Higher risk obligations require additional oversight and controls to ensure the risk of potential non-compliance in any of these areas is minimised.
Compliance obligations will be classified as High, Medium or Low risk. The classification will be undertaken within Governance and Risk Management.
Higher risk obligations have a major impact on PEER Construction and are critical to its functioning. The obligations will be assessed against PEER Construction’s risk tables.
If a Responsible Officer disagrees with the risk rating of a compliance obligation, they should notify the manager.
Employees must liaise with other areas of PEER Construction where the relevant obligation exists to ensure they are comfortable with the controls and processes in place for managing the obligations.
Behaviours that create and support compliance will be encouraged. Behaviours that compromise compliance will be investigated.
Monitor and review
Compliance performance will be monitored throughout the year and annually as part of the compliance process by:
- external audits
- self-assessment checklists
- internal audits
- incident report
- complaints register.
When noncompliance(s) is identified email management detailing the noncompliance(s), legislation breached and prioritised actions that need to be taken to rectify the noncompliance(s).
PEER Construction will implement systems, procedures, and controls to monitor compliance obligations against the Compliance Management Framework.
PEER Construction will review all Policies and Procedures every two years. After an incident, managers must debrief to make sure the policy had the intended effect and examine the details of the incident to see if employees carried out the procedures properly.
Employees must report annually to the manager on PEER Construction’s Compliance Management Framework, via the Audit and Risk Management.
The Compliance Management Framework will be reviewed each year following the annual compliance verification process.
If issues impacting compliance are identified throughout the year, managers will take appropriate action to address the issue and implement additional controls to strengthen compliance.
Actions for reporting a breach
It is essential that all parties involved in breach reporting, investigation, and rectification act in good faith to obtain a satisfactory outcome.
PEER Construction fosters a culture of compliance, and no blame should be attached to the reporting of accidental breaches or those identifying process errors.
If an employee commits a deliberate or negligent breach, they may be subject to disciplinary processes or regulatory/criminal actions.
The process for reporting a breach is documented in the Report compliance breach procedure.
Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA)
Environmental Protection Act 1993
Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth)
Competition and Consumer Act 2010
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
Water Industry Act 2012
Fair Work Act 1994
Competition and Consumer Act 2010
Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Electricians Act 1995
Development Act 1993
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
Small Business Commissioners Act 2011
Equal Opportunity Act 1984
Privacy Act 1988
Code of conduct and ethics policy
Communication policy
Compliance policy
Version 2.0 – Last updated 01/05/2023