WHS Documents for Tenders: What Australian Clients Ask For
You've built a good name on smaller jobs. Now you're looking at bigger ones: council contracts, commercial clients, larger builds, facilities and maintenance work. The kind of work that can change the size of your business.
Before a bigger client says yes, they'll want to see how you manage safety. And plenty of small and medium businesses don't know exactly which documents that means until the tender is sitting in front of them.
That's fair enough. Nobody hands you the list. So here it is, along with what each document is for and how to get them ready before you need them.
Why bigger clients ask about safety at all
When a client engages you, they take on some responsibility for how the work is done. Under WHS laws, businesses that share a workplace or a piece of work have to consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other on safety. A client can't do that properly without knowing how you manage risk.
So larger clients, councils and principal contractors build it into their buying process. They ask for your documents at tender stage, or before you're approved as a supplier, so they can see you have a system in place and not just good intentions.
The good news is that the list is fairly predictable once you know it.
The WHS documents bigger clients usually ask for
Requirements vary with the client, the industry and the type of work, but these documents come up again and again on tender and prequalification forms.
A current WHS policy, approved by management. A short statement of your business's commitment to safety and who is responsible for what. It's usually the first question on the form.
Your WHS manual or management system. This is the document that explains how your business manages safety: how you identify hazards, assess and control risks, consult workers, train people, handle incidents and review what you're doing. Your policy, procedures and forms all hang off it.
Safe work procedures for your higher risk tasks. Clients want to see that the riskier parts of your work have a documented, agreed way of being done.
An incident reporting procedure and incident report form. How incidents, injuries and near misses get reported, recorded and investigated in your business.
Plant and hazardous chemicals registers, where applicable. If you use plant or hazardous chemicals, expect to be asked for a list of what you have, with inspection and maintenance records for plant and safety data sheets for chemicals.
Induction and training records. Evidence that your workers have been inducted and are trained and competent for the work, including licences where they're needed.
Inspection records and hazard reports. Completed workplace inspections and a way for workers to report hazards show the system is being used, not just written down.
SWMS, risk assessments or JSAs for the work. Documents that show how the specific tasks in the job will be done safely.
SWMS, risk assessments and JSAs: what's actually required
This one trips people up, especially outside construction.
A Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is legally required for high risk construction work under the WHS Regulations (and under the OHS Regulations in Victoria). Outside high risk construction work, there's no legal requirement to have one.
But in practice, plenty of clients and prequalification portals ask for "a SWMS" whatever the work is, including cleaning, warehousing, property maintenance and other non-construction work. Depending on the job, you may be asked for a risk assessment, JSA or safe work procedure instead.
These documents all involve the same thinking: break the task into steps, identify the hazards, and set out how each one is controlled. A SWMS is simply a well-recognised format for recording that. It's about meeting your general duty to manage risks and giving the client what they've asked for.
The practical takeaway: have task-based documents for the work you actually do, in whichever format your clients ask for.
How prequalification platforms like Cm3 and Avetta work
Many larger clients don't check contractor documents themselves. They use a contractor prequalification platform such as Cm3 or Avetta.
The process generally looks like this:
The client invites you to register on the platform.
You answer questions about your business and how you manage safety.
You upload supporting documents, such as your policy, procedures, risk assessments, insurances and licences.
A WHS assessor reviews your submission against what that client requires.
Each client sets its own criteria, so what you're asked for depends on who you're working for and what you'll be doing. Assessors aren't only checking that the documents exist. They look at whether your documents reflect the work you do, the risks involved and how you manage them.
Having your documents organised and up to date before you register makes the whole process much smoother.
"We're too small to need all this"
This is the most common thing we hear, and it's understandable. When you're a small team that's always worked safely, a manual and a stack of procedures can feel like paperwork for someone else.
But the size of your business doesn't change what a bigger client needs to see. Their questions are the same whether you have three workers or thirty. And WHS laws apply to every business, whatever its size. The documents are how you show what you're already doing.
The upside is that being small usually makes the documents easier to put together, not harder. You have fewer tasks, fewer sites and fewer people to cover. Once they're in place, they keep working for you on every tender after that.
Why it pays to have it ready
The businesses that win bigger work aren't always the biggest. Often they're the ones who can say yes straight away.
You can respond the day an opportunity turns up. Tender windows don't wait while you pull documents together.
You look like the business you're growing into. Organised, branded documents in your own name sit comfortably next to bigger competitors.
You only do the work once. The same set covers the next tender, the next prequalification and the next client who asks.
Five steps to get tender-ready
1. Pull together what you already have. Gather your policy, manual, procedures, registers and any SWMS or risk assessments into one place. Check each one is current and in your business name.
2. Fill the gaps, starting with your policy and manual. They're usually the first things a form asks for, and everything else hangs off them.
3. Match your task documents to the work you're chasing. If you're tendering for a type of job, make sure you have SWMS, risk assessments or procedures that cover those tasks.
4. Involve your workers. Prepare and review your documents with input from the workers who do the job, and with health and safety representatives if you have them. Consulting workers is part of your safety duties, and it's what makes the documents stand up when someone asks how you work.
5. Keep it all in one folder. Then the next submission is copy, paste and send.
What else you'll be asked for
Bigger clients will sometimes also want things that sit outside your WHS documents:
Insurance certificates of currency, usually public liability and workers' compensation
Licences and registrations for your trade or activity
Safety performance figures, such as incident numbers or injury rates
These come from your insurer, your licensing body and your own records, so start gathering them at the same time as your WHS documents.
Where a WHS Management System fits
If you'd rather get the whole set in place in one go, a WHS Management System is the simplest way to do it. It gives you the WHS manual, policies and procedures that tender and prequalification forms ask for, set up as one connected system.
Our WHS Management Systems are aligned to Australian legislation and regulations and personalised free with your business details and logo. You pay once, with no ongoing fees and no subscription.
Start with the free WHS policy template
The WHS policy is usually the first question on the form, so it's the best place to start. Our free WHS Policy Template gives you an editable starting point you can put your name and logo on today.
Everything OHS has been helping Australian small businesses get their WHS documentation sorted since 2008. More than 15,000 businesses have used our systems, and we've earned 60+ five-star Google reviews along the way. Industry-specific, aligned to Australian regulations, one-off price, fully editable, yours to keep.
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