Failing to meet obligations
If you fail to meet your workplace health and safety obligations, you are breaking the law.
Putting people's health and lives at risk in a workplace may be detected during an inspection, prompted by a complaint, or as a result of a workplace health and safety audit.
Penalties can be imposed.
You can face prosecution.
Defences
If you are alleged to be in breach of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 KB), you will need to show that:
If a regulation or ministerial notice has been made about ways to manage exposure to the risk
- you followed the way prescribed in the regulation or notice to prevent the contravention.
If a code of practice has been made stating how to manage the risk
- you adopted a way of managing the risk as stated in the code or
- you adopted another way of managing the risk, took reasonable precautions and exercised proper diligence.
If no regulation, ministerial notice or code of practice has been made about exposure to the risk
- you adopted a way of managing the risk, took reasonable precautions and exercised proper diligence.
It is also a defence if you can prove that the causes of offence were beyond your control.
Last updated December 16, 2005
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