Things you must do

• If you are an employer
• If you are a person in control of premises
• If you are a worker
• If you are a visitor to a workplace or a client
• If you are a person in control of plant or system(s)

If you are an employer or a person conducting a business or undertaking

In order to meet your obligations under the law in respect to work health and safety matters employers/persons conducting a business or undertaking must do the following. (Note: things which you are not obliged to do under law but which will either help you to achieve what the law requires, or are simply good practice, are coloured red below).

1. Contact an insurer and take out workers compensation coverage for your workers. Failure to have workers’ compensation coverage for your workers is a serious breach of the Territory’s laws and can lead to harsh penalties under the law.
2. Agree with your workers on a method for consulting with them on work health and safety matters. Consulting with your workers on work health and safety matters is about:
   • ensuring your workers have a way of raising any health and safety concerns they may have, and
   • providing you with a way to seek your workers’ views and input on any health and safety procedures or policies you might need to implement.

   There are three ways you can consult with your workers. Whichever of the three suits your business must also be agreed to by your workers. You can:

   • have a Health and Safety Representative (or representatives) chosen by your workers to represent them in discussions with management about work health and safety matters
   • have a Health and Safety Committee that meets regularly to discuss work health and safety matters
   • have some other way of consulting your workers that is agreed to by them and which suits the size and nature of your business [e.g. a regular toolbox meeting, or perhaps a combination of both Health and Safety Representatives and a regular Health and Safety Committee meeting].

   Remember that your ‘workers’ includes any sub-contractors [though a sub-contractor may be an employer/a person conducting a business or undertaking in their own right, while they are working for you they are your workers as well and you have health and safety obligations to them during that time], work-experience staff, outworkers and volunteers.

   Failure to consult with your workers is an offence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. More detailed information on obligations regarding consultation with regard to health and safety.

3. If your workplace opts for a Health and Safety Representative (or representatives) as its form of consultation, special rules may apply to how they are selected. Health and safety representatives must also be trained within three months of being selected for the role. More information on Health and Safety Representatives and approved training courses.

4. An employer’s/person conducting a business or undertaking primary health and safety requirement under the law is to ensure work safety by ‘managing risk’.

   The legislation also says that an employer/a person conducting a business or undertaking must:

   • provide and maintain a safe workplace and safe systems of work
   • provide and maintain plant [i.e. equipment] that is safe and without risk to the work safety of workers and other people at the business or undertaking
   • ensure that plant [i.e. equipment] is operated only by workers and other people at the business or undertaking who are qualified to operate the plant
   • ensure the safe use, handling, storage and transport of substances
   • provide adequate facilities for the work safety of workers and other people at the business or undertaking
   • monitor the work health and safety of workers at the business or undertaking, and the conditions at the workplace, to ensure that work-related illness and injury are prevented
   • keep information and records relating to work safety, including incident reports and training records, in relation to the business or undertaking
   • provide appropriate information, instruction, training or supervision to workers and other people at the business or undertaking to allow work to be carried out safely; and
   • consult workers at the business or undertaking on matters that directly affect their work health and safety.

   An employer/person conducting a business or undertaking  must ensure that any plant [i.e. equipment] which requires a certificate or licence to operate is only operated by persons who hold the necessary certificate or licence. The employer/person conducting a business or undertaking  must provide appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to allow the operator to carry out the work safely.

5. ‘Managing risk’ means taking reasonably practicable steps to identify any workplace health and safety risk(s) and then either:
   • eliminating those risks, or
   • taking steps to minimise those risks.

   Note: You are not expected to provide a risk-free workplace. Some work health and safety risks cannot be eliminated. All work health and safety risks can be minimised to some extent however. The drop-down menu entitled ‘Hazards’ on our Home Page under Getting Started will give you some ideas on how to manage the risks associated with some of the more commonly encountered workplace hazards.

   More detail on how to meet the primary health and safety requirement of ‘managing risks’.

6. Remember that a ‘workplace’ is any place where work is, has been, or is to be, carried out by or for someone conducting a business or undertaking. This means that you are obliged to manage risks that occur wherever work is carried out, even if that place is outside your office, factory or workshop.
7. You must also comply with any other work health and safety obligations prescribed by regulation. You should have a look at the list of matters set out in the Work Safety Regulation 2011 to see if any of them are relevant to your business.
8. Under the ACT’s health and safety laws, you must report certain ‘events’ to WorkSafe ACT.

   This includes the death of a person, a serious injury or illness of a person or a dangerous incident [be they to workers or to persons visiting the workplace]
   Failure to report these events to WorkSafe ACT is an offence and can incur significant penalties.

   To report these matters complete the relevant form and send it to WorkSafe ACT. You should make sure you have a supply of the forms available at your workplace and a process in place for your workers to complete the form and pass it to management for forwarding on to WorkSafe ACT when required.

   You should also keep a copy of the form for your own records and analyse these reports as just one way of identifying possible hazards and risks that may need addressing at your workplace.

   The Accident / Incident Report Form

   More detail on reporting and how to report accidents or incidents to WorkSafe ACT

9. One way of ensuring you are taking a structured approach to managing health in safety in your business is to develop and implement a Safety Management System. Developing such a system will put you on the course to achieving best practice in terms of health and safety in your business.

   While the Safety Management Systems adopted by larger business can be quite comprehensive (and would usually be based on AS4801), at the end of the day, a safety management system [or OHSMS as it is sometime called] is simply a system for dealing with health and safety in your business.

   You should start off with a small system, the size and detail of which suits your business and its current level of understanding of health and safety. Such a system could then be ‘grown’ to something larger and more comprehensive when and if it suits your business needs. Many businesses will hire or contract a health and safety professional to help them develop an OHSMS that suits their business needs.

   More detail on Safety Management Systems.

10. You don’t have to solve all of your work health and safety issues on your own. There are a range of resources available to help you meet your work health and safety obligations.

    Health and safety professionals are available in the marketplace to provide your business with advice on specific work health and safety matters, or even to help you ensure that you have done everything that the law requires of you.

    WorkSafe ACT also provides a range of resources on its website. Visit our website and consider some of the following items:

    • Regular training and/or seminars on specific matters of interest
    • Our list of common Hazards explaining what they are, some common ways to either eliminate or minimise the risks associated with them and where to find additional resources that may be relevant
    • Our list of Work Health and Safety Topics which provides more detail on a range of health and safety matters [such as Consultation, Safety Management Systems, Risk Management, etc.]
    • Free downloadable publications on a wide range of health and safety topics, hazards and other matters
    • Industry specific guidance for businesses operating in some sectors of the local economy.
11. Some employers/person conducting a business or undertaking develop health and wellbeing programs to help make their workplaces safer and reduce the likelihood of injuries to workers. Proactive programs like these can have several benefits, including:
    • demonstrating the employer’s/persons conducting a business or undertaking concern for the health and wellbeing of their workers
    • improving the health and fitness of workers, thereby reducing the likelihood of sustaining injuries when accidents do occur [e.g. a physically fit person may be less likely to sustain an injury from a one-off lifting incident than an unfit worker]
    • reducing the likelihood of absenteeism due to minor ailments
    • lifting morale
    • increasing productivity.

    There is no legislative requirement to engage in such programs. Many employers/person conducting a business or undertaking have come to see such programs, however, as an integral part of their overall health and safety strategy. More detail on Physical Activity and Wellbeing Programs.

12. If you have any questions regarding any of the above, please feel free to contact us.
13. Specific details about your health and safety obligations can be found in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011.

If you are a person in control of premises

A person in control of premises has a duty under the territory’s health and safety laws to ensure work safety in relation to the premises by ‘managing risk’. This includes maintaining the premises in a way that is consistent with work safety and providing safe entry to and exit from the premises.

‘Managing risk’ means taking reasonably practicable steps to identify any workplace health and safety risk(s) and then either:

• eliminating those risks, or
• taking steps to minimise those risks.

More detail on how to meet the primary health and safety requirement of ‘managing risks’.

If you are also an employer/person conducting a business or undertaking , you may have other safety duties as well.

More details on safety responsibilities for employers/a person conducting a business or undertaking.

If you are a worker

In order to meet your obligations under the law in respect of health and safety matters, workers must do the following.

1. take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety;and
2. take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons; and
3. comply, so far as reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction that is given by the person conducting the business or undertaking to allow the person to comply with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011; and
4. cooperate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the person conducting the business or undertaking relating  to health or safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers.

If you are a visitor to a workplace or a client

Any person at a workplace [and workplace means anywhere that work is carried out, be it onsite or off site] has an obligation under health and safety law not to expose others at the workplace to work safety risks because of their conduct. They must comply, so far as the person is reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction that is given by the person conducting the business or undertaking to enable this person to comply with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

If you are a person in control of plant or system(s) etc., in control of design, in control of manufacture, in control of import and supply.

The Territory’s health and safety laws also has health and safety obligations or ‘duties’ for the following categories of people:

• a person with management or control of workplaces [section 20]
• a person with management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at workplaces [section 21]
• a person conducting businesses or undertakings that design plant, substances or structures [section 22]
• a person conducting businesses or undertakings that manufacture plant, substances or structures [section 23]
• a person conducting businesses or undertakings that import plant, substances or structures [section 24]
• a person conducting businesses or undertakings that supply plant, substances or structures [section 25]
• a person conducting businesses or undertakings that install, construct or commission plant or structures [section 26]

Consult the section nominated above in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 for more details on the obligations of these parties.