Appendix 6 - Workplace health and safety legislation
What are my obligations for workplace health and safety?
How can I meet my obligations for workplace health and safety?
What are the consultative arrangements for workplace health and safety?
Do I have to register my workplace?
What records and reports do I have to make?
The Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 KB) covers laws concerning workplace health and safety in Queensland. The objective of the Act is to prevent anyone being killed, injured, or contracting an illness because of a workplace, workplace activities, or specified high-risk plant.
This is achieved by preventing or minimising exposure to risk.
What are my obligations for workplace health and safety?
The Act places an obligation on every person associated with a workplace in any way to ensure his or her own workplace health and safety and the workplace health and safety of others. Under the Act, a person can have more than one set of obligations.
If you are an employer, you must:
- ensure the health and safety of each of your workers at work
- ensure that your health and safety and the health and safety of other people is not affected by the way you carry out your business and work activity.
If you are a self-employed person, you must:
- ensure that your health and safety, and the health and safety of other people is not affected by the way you carry out your business and work activity
If you are a worker, you must:
- comply with the instructions of your employer regarding your health and safety and the health and safety of others
- use personal protective equipment if your employer provides it and you have been trained to use it
- not deliberately interfere with or misuse anything provided for health and safety at your workplace
- not deliberately endanger the health and safety of any person
- not deliberately injure yourself
How can I meet my obligations for workplace health and safety?
Under the Act, there are 3 types of statutory instruments to help you meet your workplace health and safety obligations.
If there is a regulation or ministerial notice about a risk, you must do what the regulation or ministerial notice says.
If there is an advisory standard or industry code of practice about a risk, you must either:
- do what the standard or code says; or
- adopt and follow another way that gives the same level of protection against the risk.
If there is no regulation, advisory standard or industry code of practice about a risk, you must choose an appropriate way to manage the risk, and take reasonable precautions and exercise proper diligence to ensure you meet your workplace health and safety obligations.
What are the consultative arrangements for workplace health and safety?
The Act provides for employers and workers to deal with workplace health and safety issues together.
Workplace health and safety representatives are elected by workers to convey health and safety issues to their employer. No special qualifications or experience are required to be a representative. Workplace health and safety representatives are entitled to:
- carry out regular workplace health and safety inspections
- be told by the employer of any work caused injury or illness at the workplace
- be present when an employer interviews another worker about a workplace incident (if invited by the worker)
- review the circumstances of work caused injuries and illness, to advise the employer of the findings and to make resulting recommendations
- be consulted by the employer regarding proposed changes to the workplace that may affect workplace health and safety in the area they represent
- help resolve workplace health and safety issues
- be told by the employer when a workplace health and safety inspector is at the workplace
- to report any issue affecting workplace health and safety to the workplace health and safety officer employer
- expect the employer to cooperate, remedying the issue and if this does not happen, to report the matter to an inspector
- ask the employer to establish a workplace health and safety committee, and to be a member of the committee
Workplace health and safety committees help in the cooperation between employers and workers in developing and carrying out measures to ensure workplace health and safety. A committee must consist of at least two persons and include any workplace health and safety officer and the workplace health and safety representative for that workplace. Further membership of the committee should be decided through negotiations between the employer and workers.
Workplace health and safety officers (WHSOs) are appointed by employers to provide advice about workplace health and safety. A WHSO must be appointed if 30 or more workers are normally employed at the workplace. WHSOs carry out inspections, set up educational programs about workplace health and safety, and help investigate all work injuries, work-caused illness and dangerous events. A WHSO requires special qualifications.
Do I have to register my workplace?
Owners of workplaces no longer need to register their workplaces with Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.
What records and reports do I have to make?
Employers and self-employed people must make a record of every work injury, work caused illness and dangerous event that happens at their workplace. The record must be made on the approved form (incident notification form (PDF, 58kB)) and kept for a period of one year.
When there is a serious bodily injury, work caused illness or dangerous event, an employer or self-employed person must advise the Division of Workplace Health and Safety in the approved form (incident notification form (PDF, 58kB)). If a death occurs, the division must be informed as soon as possible.
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