Purpose:

The main purpose of this legislation is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces by protecting persons against harm through risk elimination or minimisation.

Objectives:

• Protecting workers and other persons against harm to their health, safety and welfare through the elimination or minimisation of risks arising from work.
• Providing for fair and effective workplace representation, consultation, co-operation and issue resolution in relation to work health and safety.
• Encouraging unions and employer organisations to take a constructive role in promoting improvements in work health and safety practices, and assisting persons conducting businesses or undertakings and workers to achieve a healthier and safer working environment.
• Promoting the provision of advice, information, education and training in relation to work health and safety.
• Securing compliance with this Act through effective and appropriate compliance and enforcement measures.
• Ensuring appropriate scrutiny and review of actions taken by persons exercising powers and performing functions under this Act.
• Providing a framework for continuous improvement and progressively higher standards of work health and safety.
• Maintaining and strengthening the national harmonisation of laws relating to work health and safety and to facilitate a consistent national approach to work health and safety in this jurisdiction.

Key Provisions:

• Primary Duty of Care (Section 19): Requires persons conducting a business or undertaking to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and other persons affected by the work.
• Duties of Persons with Management or Control (Sections 20, 21): Imposes duties on persons managing or controlling workplaces, or fixtures, fittings, or plant at workplaces, to ensure they are without risks to health and safety.
• Duties of Designers, Manufacturers, Importers, and Suppliers (Sections 22-25): Outlines responsibilities for ensuring plant, substances, and structures are designed, manufactured, imported, and supplied without risks to health and safety, and providing adequate information regarding their safe use and hazardous properties.
• Duty of Officers (Section 27): Requires officers of a person conducting a business or undertaking to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its health and safety duties.
• Duties of Workers and Other Persons (Sections 28, 29): Stipulates duties for workers to take reasonable care for their own and others’ health and safety, and to comply with reasonable instructions and WHS policies.
• Incident Notification (Part 3): Mandates immediate notification to the regulator of certain “notifiable incidents” (deaths, serious injuries/illnesses, dangerous incidents) and preservation of incident sites.
• Authorisations (Part 4): Sets requirements for authorisation (licences, permits, registrations) for certain workplaces, plant, substances, or types of work, and mandates compliance with associated conditions.
• Consultation, Representation, and Participation (Part 5): Establishes requirements for consultation between duty holders and with workers, and provides for the election and functions of Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and Health and Safety Committees (HSCs).
• Prohibition of Discriminatory, Coercive, and Misleading Conduct (Part 6): Prohibits actions against persons for prohibited reasons (e.g., exercising WHS rights) and prohibits coercion or inducement related to WHS matters.
• Workplace Entry by WHS Entry Permit Holders (Part 7): Defines the rights and responsibilities of WHS entry permit holders (union officials) to enter workplaces to inquire into suspected contraventions or consult with workers on WHS matters.
• Regulator’s Powers (Part 8, Part 9): Grants powers to the regulator (Comcare) and inspectors to monitor compliance, obtain information, enter workplaces, seize evidence, and investigate contraventions.
• Enforcement Measures (Part 10): Authorises inspectors to issue improvement notices, prohibition notices, and non-disturbance notices to address contraventions or risks, and allows for remedial action by the regulator.
• Enforceable Undertakings (Part 11): Allows the regulator to accept WHS undertakings as an alternative enforcement measure for contraventions (excluding Category 1 or industrial manslaughter offences).
• Legal Proceedings (Part 13): Outlines procedures for prosecutions, civil penalty proceedings, and sentencing for offences, including penalties for industrial manslaughter and other health and safety duty failures.
• Prohibition of Insurance/Indemnity Against Penalties (Section 272A): Prohibits contracts or arrangements that cover monetary penalties under the Act and voids such terms.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• General Health and Safety Duties (Section 19):
  • Action: Provide and maintain a work environment without risks to health and safety.
  • Action: Provide and maintain safe plant and structures.
  • Action: Provide and maintain safe systems of work.
  • Action: Ensure safe use, handling, and storage of plant, structures, and substances.
  • Action: Provide adequate facilities for the welfare of workers, including access.
  • Action: Provide necessary information, training, instruction, or supervision to protect all persons from risks.
  • Action: Monitor the health of workers and the conditions at the workplace to prevent illness or injury.
  • Action (for worker accommodation): If worker accommodation is owned or managed and necessary for engagement, maintain the premises without risks to health and safety.
  • Action (for self-employed persons): Ensure own health and safety while at work.
• Management and Control Duties (Sections 20, 21):
  • Action: Ensure the workplace, its entry/exit, and anything arising from it are without risks to health and safety.
  • Action: Ensure fixtures, fittings, and plant at a workplace are without risks to health and safety.
• Duties of Designers, Manufacturers, Importers, and Suppliers of Plant, Substances, or Structures (Sections 22, 23, 24, 25):
  • Action: Ensure the plant, substance, or structure is designed/manufactured/imported/supplied to be without health and safety risks for persons who use, handle, store, construct, maintain, or are in the vicinity of it.
  • Action: Carry out, or arrange for, necessary calculations, analysis, testing, or examination (importers/suppliers may ensure these have been carried out).
  • Documentation: Give adequate information to recipients concerning:
    • Each purpose for which the plant, substance, or structure was designed or manufactured.
    • The results of any calculations, analysis, testing, or examination (including hazardous properties of substances identified by testing).
    • Any conditions necessary to ensure health and safety when used or during foreseeable activities (e.g., assembly, storage, decommissioning, dismantling, demolition, or disposal).
  • Action: On request, give current relevant information on the above matters to persons carrying out related activities, so far as reasonably practicable.
• Duties of Installers, Constructors, or Commissioners of Plant or Structures (Section 26):
  • Action: Ensure the way plant or a structure is installed, constructed, or commissioned ensures it is without risks to health and safety for persons involved in or affected by its installation, construction, commissioning, use, decommissioning, dismantling, demolition, or disposal.
• Duty of Officers (Section 27):
  • Action: Exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its health and safety duties, including taking reasonable steps to:
    • Acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of WHS matters.
    • Gain an understanding of the nature of operations, hazards, and risks of the business/undertaking.
    • Ensure the PCBU has and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks.
    • Ensure the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards, and risks and responding timely.
    • Ensure the PCBU has and implements processes for complying with any duty or obligation under the Act (e.g., reporting notifiable incidents, consulting with workers, ensuring compliance with notices, providing training, HSR entitlements).
    • Verify the provision and use of these resources and processes.
• Duties of Workers and Other Persons at the Workplace (Sections 28, 29):
  • Action: Take reasonable care for own health and safety.
  • Action: Take reasonable care that acts or omissions do not adversely affect others’ health and safety.
  • Action: Comply, so far as reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU to allow compliance with the Act.
  • Action (Workers only): Co-operate with any reasonable WHS policy or procedure notified to workers.
• Incident Notification Requirements (Sections 38, 39):
  • Reporting: Notify the regulator immediately by the fastest possible means (telephone or in writing) after becoming aware of a notifiable incident (death, serious injury/illness, dangerous incident) arising out of the business/undertaking.
    • If by telephone: Give details of the incident requested by the regulator; if required by the regulator, give a written notice of the incident within 48 hours.
    • If in writing: Must be in a form, or contain the details, approved by the regulator.
  • Record-keeping: Keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least 5 years from the day that notice is given to the regulator.
  • Site Preservation: The person with management or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the incident site is not disturbed until an inspector arrives or any earlier time an inspector directs (with exceptions for assisting injured/deceased, making site safe, police investigation, or inspector permission).
• Authorisation Requirements (Sections 41, 42, 43, 44, 45):
  • Action: Do not conduct a business/undertaking at a workplace or direct/allow a worker to carry out work at a workplace if the workplace is required to be authorised and is not.
  • Action: Do not use plant or a substance at a workplace or direct/allow a worker to use it if the plant/substance or its design is required to be authorised and is not.
  • Action: Do not carry out work at a workplace or direct/allow a worker to carry out work if the work/class of work is required to be carried out by/on behalf of an authorised person and is not.
  • Action: Do not carry out work at a workplace or direct/allow a worker to carry out work if the work/class of work is required to be carried out by/under the supervision of a person with prescribed qualifications or experience and is not.
  • Action: Comply with the conditions of any authorisation given under the regulations.
• Consultation, Representation, and Participation Requirements (Part 5):
  • Action: Consult, co-operate, and co-ordinate activities, so far as is reasonably practicable, with other duty holders if more than one person has a duty for the same matter (Section 46).
  • Action: Consult, so far as is reasonably practicable, with workers directly affected by a matter relating to work health or safety (Section 47). This requires sharing information, providing reasonable opportunity for workers to express views and contribute to decision-making, taking views into account, and advising of the outcome in a timely manner (Section 48).
  • Action: Facilitate the determination of one or more work groups if a worker requests the election of HSRs (Section 51).
  • Timeframe: Take all reasonable steps to commence negotiations with workers within 14 days after a request for HSR election (Section 52).
  • Action: Notify workers of the outcome of negotiations for work groups or variations as soon as practicable (Section 53).
  • Action: Provide any resources, facilities, and assistance that are reasonably necessary or prescribed by regulations to enable HSR elections to be conducted (Section 61).
  • Action: Consult with HSRs on WHS matters, confer with them when requested, allow HSRs access to information (hazards and worker health/safety, without identifying personal/medical information unless consented), allow HSRs to be present at WHS interviews (with worker consent), provide necessary resources and assistance to HSRs, allow a person assisting an HSR access to the workplace (subject to conditions), permit HSRs to accompany inspectors during inspections, and allow HSRs reasonable time with pay to exercise powers/functions (Section 70, 71).
  • Action: If requested by an HSR, allow the HSR to attend an approved WHS training course chosen by the HSR (Section 72).
  • Timeframe: As soon as practicable within 3 months after the request, allow the HSR time off work to attend training (Section 72).
  • Action: Pay the HSR’s course fees and any other reasonable costs associated with training (Section 72).
  • Record-keeping: Prepare and keep up-to-date a list of each HSR and deputy HSR for each work group (Section 74).
  • Reporting: Display a copy of the up-to-date HSR list at the principal place of business and appropriate workplaces, readily accessible to workers (Section 74).
  • Reporting: Provide a copy of the up-to-date HSR list to the regulator as soon as practicable after it is prepared (Section 74).
  • Action: Establish a health and safety committee within 2 months after a request by an HSR or 5 or more workers, or if required by regulations (Section 75).
  • Action: Ensure at least half of the health and safety committee members are workers not nominated by the PCBU (Section 76).
  • Action: Allow each committee member reasonable time with pay to attend meetings or carry out functions (Section 79).
  • Action: Allow the health and safety committee access to information relating to hazards and worker health and safety (without identifying personal/medical information unless consented) (Section 79).
  • Action: Make reasonable efforts to achieve a timely, final, and effective resolution of WHS issues in accordance with agreed or default procedures (Section 81).
• Compliance with Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs) (Sections 97, 99):
  • Action: As soon as practicable, display a copy of a PIN in a prominent place at or near the affected workplace (Section 97).
  • Action: Do not intentionally remove, destroy, damage, or deface a displayed PIN during the period it is in force (Section 97).
  • Action: Comply with the provisional improvement notice within the time specified in the notice, if an inspector review has not been requested (Section 99).
• Compliance with Enforcement Measures and Inspector Powers (Parts 9 & 10):
  • Action: Provide an inspector with reasonable help to exercise their powers on entry (e.g., inspect, examine, take measurements, conduct tests, take samples) (Section 165).
  • Action: Comply with an inspector’s requirement to provide name and residential address, and evidence of its correctness (Section 185).
  • Action: Comply with an inspector’s requirement to tell who has custody of, or access to, a document, produce the document, or answer questions (Section 171).
  • Action: Comply with an improvement notice within the period specified (Section 193).
  • Action: Comply with a prohibition notice or oral direction prohibiting an activity (Section 197).
  • Action: Comply with a non-disturbance notice without reasonable excuse (Section 200).
  • Action: As soon as possible, display a copy of any improvement, prohibition, or non-disturbance notice in a prominent place at or near the affected workplace (Section 210).
  • Action: Do not intentionally remove, destroy, damage, or deface a displayed notice while it is in force (Section 210).
  • Action: Do not tamper, or attempt to tamper, with a seized thing or something restricting access to it without an inspector’s approval (Section 177).
  • Action: Comply with an inspector’s requirement to take a seized thing to a stated reasonable place by a stated reasonable time and/or remain in control of it (Section 177).
• Enforceable Undertakings (Part 11):
  • Action: Not contravene a WHS undertaking accepted by the regulator that is in effect (Section 219).
• General Prohibitions (Part 14):
  • Action: Do not enter into a contract of insurance or other arrangement, or provide insurance or an indemnity, or take the benefit of such, purportedly covering all or part of a liability for a monetary penalty under this Act (Section 272A).
  • Action: Do not impose a levy or charge on a worker, or permit a levy or charge to be imposed on a worker, for anything done, or provided, in relation to work health and safety (Section 273).
• Annual Reporting Requirements (Schedule 2, Part 4, Clause 4 - for non-corporate Commonwealth entities and public authorities):
  • Reporting: Include in annual reports:
    • Initiatives taken during the year to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of workers who carry out work for the entity.
    • Health and safety outcomes achieved.
    • Statistics of any notifiable incidents the entity became aware of during the year arising from its businesses or undertakings.
    • Details of any investigations conducted during the year related to its businesses or undertakings, including details of all notices received under Part 10.

Metadata Keywords:

Work Health and Safety, WHS, Australia, Legislation, Compliance, Risk Management, Incident Notification, Workplace Safety, Due Diligence, Enforcement

Publication Information:

Compilation date: 1 July 2024 Compilation No.: 16 Registered: 1 July 2024

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Beef & Veal, Chicken, Coarse Grains, Cotton, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Forestry, Horticulture, Oilseeds, Pig, Sheep Meat, Sugar, Wheat, Wine, Wool.

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2011A00137/2024-07-01/2024-07-01/text/original/pdf →