First Aid Policy (Australia)

Create a Workplace Safety Assessment (risk assessment) for Australian workplaces under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth). Identifies hazards, assesses risks using the risk matrix, and documents control measures following the hierarchy of controls under Safe Work Australia guidance.

An Australian Workplace Incident Report Form is a structured document used to record the details of a workplace incident, including accidents, injuries, illnesses, dangerous incidents, and near misses. It is an essential component of a workplace's work health and safety (WHS) management system and is required under Australian WHS legislation for the investigation of workplace hazards and the notification of notifiable incidents to WHS regulators. The primary legislative obligation to report and investigate workplace incidents arises from the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (WHS Act) and its state and territory equivalents. Under s 38 of the WHS Act, the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must notify the WHS regulator immediately — by the fastest possible means — after becoming aware that a notifiable incident arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking has occurred at a workplace. A notifiable incident is defined in the WHS Act as: (a) the death of a person; (b) a serious injury or illness of a person (as defined in s 36, which includes injuries requiring immediate in-patient hospital treatment, amputations, serious head and eye injuries, burns, certain diseases, and other serious harm); or (c) a dangerous incident (as defined in s 37, which includes incidents involving uncontrolled explosions, fires, escapes of hazardous substances, and structural collapses). Under WHS Act s 39, the PCBU must ensure that the site of a notifiable incident is not disturbed until an inspector arrives or the WHS regulator gives permission, except to the extent necessary to assist injured persons, remove a deceased person, prevent a further incident, or as required by another law. The PCBU must also keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least five years from the day the regulator is notified, as required by WHS Regulation 2017 (Cth) reg 693. Beyond notifiable incidents, best practice WHS management — consistent with Part 3.1 of the WHS Regulation — requires the PCBU to identify hazards, assess risks, and implement controls using the hierarchy of controls for all workplace incidents and near misses, not just notifiable ones. A near miss investigation may reveal systemic failures that could result in a serious injury or death if not corrected, and the WHS Regulation's risk management obligations apply to all workplace hazards regardless of whether an injury has occurred. State and territory workers compensation legislation also imposes reporting obligations on employers when a worker sustains a work-related injury or illness. Under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic), the Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA), the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), and equivalent legislation in other states and territories, employers must notify their workers compensation insurer of a work-related injury within a prescribed timeframe (typically 48 hours for serious injuries and five days for other injuries, depending on the jurisdiction). A completed incident report form is a key document in the workers compensation claims process. Effective incident investigation requires identification of contributing factors at multiple levels: the immediate (direct) causes — the physical events or conditions that directly caused the harm; the underlying (systemic) causes — the failures in systems, processes, supervision, training, or equipment; and the root causes — the fundamental organisational or management failures that allowed the other causes to develop. This multi-level analysis is essential for identifying corrective actions that will be effective in preventing recurrence, as opposed to focusing only on the visible, immediate cause. This Workplace Incident Report Form template covers all key elements required for a compliant and effective incident report, including full details of the incident, the persons involved and their employment status, the nature of injury or harm, witness details, notifiable incident assessment and regulator notification records, immediate actions taken, contributing factor and root cause analysis, corrective actions prioritised using the hierarchy of controls, and management sign-off. It is suitable for use by employers and PCBUs across all industries in all Australian states and territories.

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.

An Australian Workplace Accident and Injury Report Form is a structured document used to record full details of a workplace accident, the injury or illness sustained by the worker, the hazards and causes that led to the accident, and the corrective actions and return to work steps to be implemented. It is required under Australian work health and safety legislation and state workers compensation legislation and is a fundamental document in both the workers compensation claims process and the workplace injury investigation process. The obligation to report workplace accidents and injuries in Australia arises from two separate legislative frameworks. First, under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (WHS Act) and its state and territory equivalents, the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must immediately notify the WHS regulator of any notifiable incident — defined as the death of a person, a serious injury or illness (as defined in WHS Act s 36), or a dangerous incident (as defined in WHS Act s 37). The definition of serious injury or illness in s 36 includes injuries requiring immediate in-patient hospital treatment, amputations, fractures of the skull, spine, or pelvis, serious head or eye injuries, burns requiring hospitalisation, loss of body function, and certain occupational diseases. Second, under state and territory workers compensation legislation, the employer must separately notify their workers compensation insurer of any work-related injury or illness. The relevant legislation includes the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld), the Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA), the Return to Work Act 2014 (SA), the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Tas), the Workers Compensation Act 1951 (ACT), and the Return to Work Act 1986 (NT). Notification timeframes vary by jurisdiction — in NSW, serious injuries must be notified within 48 hours and other injuries within five days; similar requirements apply in other states. Australia's workers compensation system is administered on a state-by-state basis (except for Commonwealth employees covered by the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth)), and the claims process, benefits, and return to work obligations differ between jurisdictions. In most jurisdictions, the employer is also required to appoint a return to work coordinator for injured workers, develop a return to work plan, and maintain the worker's employment during recovery to the extent practicable. Effective accident investigation is required by WHS Regulation 2017 (Cth) Part 3.1, which obligates the PCBU to identify hazards, assess risks, and implement controls using the hierarchy of controls: elimination, substitution, isolation, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment. The investigation must identify contributing factors at the immediate, underlying (systemic), and root cause levels to ensure that corrective actions address the actual causes of the accident — not just the visible immediate cause — and are effective in preventing recurrence. Musculoskeletal disorders (particularly back and shoulder injuries from hazardous manual tasks) are among the most common causes of workplace injury in Australia. The Code of Practice — Hazardous Manual Tasks (published by Safe Work Australia) provides guidance on identifying and controlling hazardous manual task risks in accordance with WHS Regulation 2017 regs 59-64, which specifically address hazardous manual tasks as a risk requiring risk assessment and control by the PCBU. This Workplace Accident and Injury Report Form covers all key elements of a compliant accident report, including employer and workplace details, full injured worker details and employment type, detailed accident description, injury details and medical treatment, workers compensation insurer notification, WHS regulator notification for notifiable injuries, hazard identification and cause analysis, corrective actions using the hierarchy of controls, return to work planning, and sign-off by both the reporting supervisor and approving manager.

An Australian Hazardous Chemical Risk Assessment is a formal document used to identify the hazards associated with a specific hazardous chemical at the workplace, assess the risk of harmful worker exposure, and determine the control measures required to eliminate or minimise that risk. It is a legal requirement under Chapter 7 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (Cth) for all PCBUs that use, handle, generate, or store hazardous chemicals at the workplace. Hazardous chemicals are one of the leading causes of occupational disease in Australia. Safe Work Australia data indicates that thousands of Australian workers are diagnosed with occupational cancers, respiratory diseases, skin conditions, and reproductive health disorders each year as a result of workplace chemical exposures. These harms are preventable with systematic identification, assessment, and control of chemical hazards. The legislative framework for hazardous chemicals in Australia is established primarily by Chapter 7 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (Cth), made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth). A 'hazardous chemical' is defined by reference to the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) — any substance, mixture, or article that satisfies the criteria for a hazard class under the GHS is a hazardous chemical for the purposes of Australian WHS law. This includes flammable liquids, flammable gases, oxidising substances, acute toxins, corrosives, carcinogens, reproductive toxins, respiratory sensitisers, and many other categories. Regulation 330 of the WHS Regulation 2017 (Cth) requires the PCBU to obtain a current Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for each hazardous chemical at the workplace. The SDS is a standardised 16-section document prepared by the manufacturer or importer that contains comprehensive information about the chemical's hazard classification, physical and chemical properties, exposure limits, health effects, first aid measures, firefighting procedures, spill response, handling and storage requirements, and toxicological data. The SDS is the primary information source for the risk assessment. Regulation 335 requires the PCBU to identify the hazards associated with each hazardous chemical. Regulation 336 requires the PCBU to assess the risks to health and safety from each hazardous chemical at the workplace, having regard to the hazard classification, the routes of exposure, the likely concentration of exposure, and the number of workers who may be exposed. Regulation 337 requires atmospheric monitoring to be conducted where it is not certain whether workers have been exposed to a hazardous chemical in excess of the applicable workplace exposure standard (WES), or where a health monitoring trigger has occurred. The Safe Work Australia Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants (WES) establishes the maximum airborne concentrations of substances to which workers may be exposed. The WES includes time-weighted average (TWA) values for 8-hour shift exposures, short-term exposure limits (STELs) for 15-minute exposures, and ceiling values that must not be exceeded at any time. Exposure above the WES is not permitted. Regulation 338 requires the PCBU to eliminate the risk of harmful exposure, or if elimination is not reasonably practicable, to minimise the risk using the hierarchy of controls: substitution, isolation, engineering controls (ventilation, enclosures), administrative controls (procedures, training, rotation), and personal protective equipment. Regulation 354 requires the PCBU to maintain a hazardous chemicals register containing a current SDS for each hazardous chemical at the workplace. For certain chemicals listed in Schedule 14 of the WHS Regulation (including lead, organophosphate pesticides, isocyanates, and others), reg 368 requires health monitoring of workers who are at risk of adverse health effects. Health monitoring may include lung function tests, biological monitoring (blood or urine tests), and specialist medical assessments, and must be conducted by a registered medical practitioner. This Hazardous Chemical Risk Assessment template covers all requirements of Chapter 7 of the WHS Regulation 2017 (Cth) and the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice: Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace. It includes GHS hazard classification, exposure assessment against WES, atmospheric monitoring requirements, health monitoring obligations, control measures across the full hierarchy of controls, emergency procedures, storage requirements, and sign-off.