A core aspect of the ABCC’s role and one of its Key Performance Indicators is the conduct of site visits, underpinning its strategic objective to advise and assist building industry participants. During COVID-19, Government restrictions required the suspension of face-to-face site visits. To demonstrate that the ABCC remained 'open for business', the ABCC moved to virtual site visits using digital technologies. This approach managed health and safety risks to both ABCC staff and its regulated community, while allowing the ABCC to continue to provide advice and assistance to the building industry in line with its objectives.
Testing of ABCC software-based phone technology at remote working sites was prioritised to assess and mitigate the risk in rolling out this new capability. Iterative testing across teams enabled staff to seamlessly transition to this new skill and ensure that the links to the case management system remained in place. There were no reports of adverse on-site outcomes as a result of use of virtual site visits.
The ABCC has now embedded the use of virtual site visits as an enduring practice for its operations as a time saving and less intrusive measure for regulatory monitoring.