SafeWork Incident Notification (Australia)

An Australian Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Policy is a formal document in which an employer commits to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for all workers and others affected by its activities. It sets out the organisation's WHS obligations under Australian law, defines the responsibilities of officers, managers, and workers, and establishes the systems and procedures the organisation will use to identify hazards, assess risks, and implement controls. The primary legislative framework governing WHS in Australia is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (the WHS Act) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (Cth) (the WHS Regulation), developed by Safe Work Australia as model legislation. As of 2026, the model WHS Act has been adopted by the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, and Tasmania. Victoria and Western Australia have separate but substantially similar legislation (the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)). The central obligation on employers is found in s 19 of the WHS Act. A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers engaged by or caused to be engaged by the PCBU, and the health and safety of workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the PCBU. The 'so far as is reasonably practicable' qualifier requires the PCBU to weigh the likelihood and severity of a risk against the availability and cost of measures to eliminate or minimise it. Under s 27 of the WHS Act, officers of a PCBU (including directors and senior managers) have a positive duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the organisation complies with its WHS obligations. This includes acquiring and keeping up-to-date knowledge of WHS matters, understanding the operations and associated risks of the business, ensuring the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise WHS risks, and verifying that those resources and processes are being used effectively. Workers also have duties under s 28 of the WHS Act. They must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, ensure their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the safety of others, comply with any reasonable WHS instruction given by the PCBU, and cooperate with any reasonable WHS policy or procedure. The WHS Regulation 2017 (Cth) supplements the WHS Act by providing detailed requirements for managing risks, including the hierarchy of controls: elimination, substitution, isolation, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE) as a last resort. Employers are required to consult with workers when identifying hazards, assessing risks, and making decisions about controls under Part 5 of the WHS Act. Notifiable incidents — including workplace fatalities, serious injuries or illnesses, and dangerous incidents as defined in ss 35 to 37 of the WHS Act — must be reported immediately to the relevant state or territory WHS regulator. The incident scene must be preserved until an inspector attends or authorises disturbance under s 39 of the WHS Act. Having a documented WHS Policy is a fundamental element of any effective WHS management system. It demonstrates the organisation's commitment to health and safety at the highest level, provides a framework for establishing WHS objectives and responsibilities, and supports compliance with the WHS Act and WHS Regulation. Employers with five or more employees are required to record significant findings of risk assessments in writing under the WHS Regulation. This WHS Policy is suitable for businesses of all sizes across all industries operating in Australia and should be reviewed at least annually, or whenever there is a significant change to operations, personnel, or legislation.

Create a Modern Award Compliance Checklist under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) to document your business's compliance with pay rates, penalty rates, overtime, leave entitlements, superannuation, and record-keeping obligations. Suitable for all Australian industries and occupations covered by modern awards.

An Australian WHS Risk Assessment is a systematic process for identifying hazards in a workplace, evaluating the likelihood and consequence of harm, and determining and documenting the control measures needed to protect workers and other persons. It is a core requirement of the work health and safety management system for every Australian workplace and is mandated by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (Cth). The legal obligation to conduct WHS risk assessments arises from the primary duty of care in WHS Act 2011 s 19, which requires the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and other persons at the workplace. This broad duty encompasses the identification and management of all reasonably foreseeable hazards. The specific risk management process is set out in WHS Regulation 2017 Part 3.1, which requires the PCBU to: identify reasonably foreseeable hazards (reg 34); eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable, or — if elimination is not reasonably practicable — minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable (reg 35); select and implement control measures using the hierarchy of controls (reg 36); maintain and review control measures (regs 37-38); and identify any duty to consult (WHS Act s 47-49). The hierarchy of controls established by WHS Act ss 17-19 and WHS Regulation regs 34-38 requires the PCBU to work through levels of control in order of decreasing effectiveness and reliability: (1) Elimination — removing the hazard entirely from the workplace is the most effective control and should always be considered first; (2) Substitution — replacing the hazardous thing, substance, or work practice with something less hazardous; (3) Isolation — physically separating workers from the hazard using barriers, enclosures, or remote operation; (4) Engineering controls — modifying equipment, plant, or the work environment to reduce the hazard (guards, ventilation, noise enclosures); (5) Administrative controls — implementing safe work procedures, training, supervision, job rotation, signage, and permits to work; (6) Personal protective equipment (PPE) — provided as a last resort or to supplement higher-order controls, and always provided free of charge to workers under WHS Regulation reg 44. Under WHS Act 2011 s 47, the PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult workers who are (or are likely to be) directly affected by a matter relating to work health and safety, including during the hazard identification and risk management process. Health and safety representatives (HSRs) elected under WHS Act Part 5 have specific rights to participate in and be consulted about WHS risk management, including the right to inspect the workplace and review WHS documentation. Failure to consult workers is itself a breach of the WHS Act. Under WHS Act 2011 s 27, officers of the PCBU (directors, senior executives) have a personal positive duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the organisation complies with the WHS Act and Regulation. A documented, regularly reviewed risk assessment is a key mechanism for demonstrating officer due diligence under this provision. Officers can be held personally liable for failures of due diligence, with fines of up to $600,000 for Category 2 offences under the WHS Act. Specific hazard categories have additional WHS Regulation requirements: noise exposure above 85 dB(A) triggers the audiometric testing and hearing protection obligations in WHS Regulation regs 55-60; hazardous chemicals trigger the SDS, labelling, health monitoring, and risk assessment requirements in WHS Regulation Chapter 7; hazardous manual tasks trigger the specific risk assessment obligation in WHS Regulation regs 59-64; and work at heights above 2 metres (in construction) triggers the fall prevention obligations in WHS Regulation Chapter 6. This WHS Risk Assessment template covers all key elements required by the WHS Act and Regulation, including organisation details, assessment scope and methodology, worker consultation records, comprehensive hazard identification across physical, chemical, ergonomic, and psychosocial categories, risk evaluation using a risk matrix, control measures structured according to the full hierarchy of controls, residual risk re-assessment, an implementation plan with priority actions and responsible persons, and sign-off by the assessor and approving manager.