Sex Work

This page provides guidance for persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) and workers on the risks posed working in the sex work industry.

Sex work is the provision of a sexual service for a commercial benefit. A sex worker is a worker who provides sexual services for monetary or material reward, irrespective of whether the reward is, or is to be, paid or given to the sex worker or another person.

Sex workers are deemed workers for the purposes of the Workers Compensation Act 1951 and have the same rights under the work health and safety legislation as all other workers in the Territory. The sexual services industry in the ACT is supported by a number of different legislative pieces which serve to promote the welfare and work health and safety of sex workers and safeguard public health. These include:

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011
• Workers Compensation Act 1951
• The Public Health Act 1997
• Sex Work Act 1992
• Crimes Act 1900

Duties to manage risks in the workplace

Duty holders who have a role in managing physical and psychosocial risks under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the WHS Act) include:

• PCBUs
• officers
• workers, and
• other persons at the workplace.

A person can have more than one duty and more than one person can have the same duty at the same time.

More information about WHS duties and how to manage WHS risks can be found in the Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks.

Risk Management

There are specific hazards that exist within the sex work industry that may require specific control measures. There are also general hazards that exist within the sex work industry that are prevalent in any workplace and require the use of controls to eliminate or minimise the risk of harm. Risk assessment involves considering what could happen if someone is exposed to a hazard and the likelihood of it happening. Risk assessments help to:

• Identify which workers are at risk;
• determine what sources and processes are causing the risks;
• identify if and what kind of control measures should be implemented; and
• check the effectiveness of existing control measures.

Step 1 – Identify the Hazard

The risk management process begins with the PCBU identifying all reasonably foreseeable hazards at their workplace, including unexpected events which may occur and potentially cause injury or illness in the workplace. Consultation with workers is a vital part of this step.

Hazards may be identified by looking at the workplace and how work is carried out. Hazards generally arise from the following aspects of work and their interaction:

• physical work environment
• equipment, materials and substances used
• work tasks and how they are performed, and
• work design and management.

Below are some examples of hazards in the sexual services industry:

• sexually transmitted diseases
• other infections
• exposure to biological hazards
• handling cash or other valuables
• remote or isolated work
• work-related violence

Step 2 – Assess the Risk

The PCBU needs to consider what harm could happen to their workers for each of the identified hazards. When assessing the risks, they also need to think about how likely the harm is to occur (likelihood) and how severe the harm could be (consequences).

The PCBU should consider all available information, including their business and the type of work, their workers, any nearby businesses and their type of work, and the known industry risks.

Below are some example questions to assist in assessing the risk of harm:

• While working alone, could the worker be exposed to harassment, aggression, violence, sexual harassment or sexual assault?
• Does the nature of work of the business, or a nearby business, increase the risk of harm to your workers?
• Are there any nearby businesses that could help in an emergency?

Step 3 – Control the risk of harm

The PCBU must eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable.

If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risks, the PCBU must minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable, using the hierarchy of controls.

Below are some examples of how PCBUs can use the hierarchy of controls to minimise the risks in the workplace:

• Substitute (wholly or partly) the hazard with something that gives rise to a lesser risk. For example, provide alternative PPE for people with allergies.
• Isolate the hazard from any person exposed to it. For example, providing safe rooms for sex workers to retreat away from environments where there is a risk of assault.
• Implement engineering controls. - Install security cameras, door chimes, or automatic locking doors.
• Implement administrative controls – train workers on effective de-escalation techniques, develop check in procedures and ensure regular contact throughout the day.

Provision and use of personal protective equipment(PPE) – PCBUs must provide PPE to workers to minimise the risk of a hazard. For sex work this can include condoms, dams, gloves, and water-based lubricants.

Step 4 – Review the control measures

Finally, the PCBU must review the control measures regularly to ensure they remain effective and are maintained (being used or followed) in the workplace.

At a minimum, a review is required in the following circumstances:

• the control measure does not control the risk it was implemented to control, so far as is reasonably practicable,
• before a change at the workplace that is likely pose new or different risks to health or safety that the previous measure may not effectively control,
• a new hazard or risk is identified,
• the results of consultation by the duty holder under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011(WHS Act) or Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011(WHS Regulation) indicate that a review is necessary,
• a health and safety representative requests a review in certain circumstances outlined in Section 38 of the WHS Regulation.

Further guidance on the risk management process is available in the Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks and the Code of Practice: Sex Work.