Responsibilities of:
Section 8(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (OHS Act 2000) states that as an employer you ‘must ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all the employees’. To meet your responsibilities under the OHS Act 2000, you must provide:
- safe premises
- safe machinery and substances
- safe systems of work
- provision of information, instruction, training and supervision
- suitable working environment and facilities.
The Act also states that you are responsible for the health and safety of people other than your workers, who may be present at the workplace.
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Although the Act places the ultimate responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of all workers on the employer, section 26 of the Act extends the occupational health and safety (OHS) responsibility of the employer to managers and supervisors. Managers and supervisors are directly responsible for OHS within areas under their control. If they are in a position to influence the conduct of the organisation or those involved, the responsibility is extended to any area where a health and safety hazard exists. Section 28 of the Act states that managers and supervisors will not be held responsible for OHS issues if they can prove that:
- it was not reasonably practicable for them to comply with the provision
- the offence was due to causes over which they had no control and it was impractical to make provision for.
To determine if it is reasonably practical, the courts will decide:
- what is reasonable in the circumstances?
- what is the magnitude of the risk?
- what is the degree of probability of an incident occurring?
- was an approved industry code of practice, other recognised document or safe work method of an equivalent or higher standard followed?
- have changing technology, work methods, equipment, etc been accounted for?
- are current accepted industry and/or community standards being adhered to?
- has potential worker inattention, misjudgement or carelessness been considered?
- is there a safer method that would have prevented an incident occurring?
- are there any conflicting responsibilities that may influence actions to be taken?
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Section 20 of the OHS Act 2000 states that as a worker you must:
- take reasonable care for the health and safety of your co-workers who may be affected by your actions
- cooperate with your employer in anything that they do or require, in order to ensure a safe workplace.
You must:
- ensure that your actions do not put others at risk
- work safely
- use and maintain machinery and equipment properly
- ensure that your work area is free of hazards.
Cooperating with your employer may include:
- notifying your supervisor of actual and potential hazards
- wearing or using prescribed safety equipment
- carrying out work in a safe manner
- following health and safety instructions
- taking notice of signs
- adhering to speed limits
- participating in safety training.
Section 22 states that you must not be charged for anything that your employer provides or does in relation to OHS.
You should not:
- be asked to pay for a training course that your employer deems necessary to the safe system of work
- be required to provide your own personal protective equipment
- be required to pay for equipment that is required to do the job safely
- lose pay or time if you are working as an OHS representative or on an OHS committee.
Section 23 protects you from dismissal or demotion should you raise any health and safety issues.
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Section 9 of the Act states that self-employed persons must ensure that other people are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the person’s undertaking while they are at that person’s place of work.
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Section 21 of the Act states that you must not intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety and welfare. You must not:
- move or deface signs
- tamper with warning alarms
- remove machine guards
- ‘skylark’
- play jokes
- behave in a way that results in risk to others.
Section 24 states that you must not intentionally hinder or obstruct:
- the giving or receiving of any form of aid when a person is injured at work
- any act to avoid or prevent a serious risk to the health and safety of a person.
Section 25 states that you must not deliberately create a risk to the health and safety of your co-workers, such as with a bomb threat or intentional false alarm.
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Section 10 of the OHS Act 2000 states that ‘a person who has control of premises used by people as a place of work must ensure that the premises are safe and without risks to health’. This includes doorways, stairways, walkways and lifts to and from the premises.
A person who has control over any machinery or substances in non-domestic premises, that has been provided for the use of or operation by people at work, must also ensure that the plant or substance is safe and without risk.
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Section 11 of the Act requires that a person who designs, manufactures and supplies any plant or substance for use by people at work must ensure that the plant or substance is safe and without risks to health, when it is used properly.
The designer, manufacturer and supplier are all independently responsible for:
- identifying hazards
- assessing potential risk posed by the hazard
- controlling the risk
- reviewing the risk assessment.
Part of this risk management process involves each party obtaining and providing relevant and adequate information when required.
Designers, manufacturers and suppliers are required to test their products to ensure they are safe when used properly. They are also required to make available information about the results of these tests and about the requirements for the safe use in the workplace.
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 requires manufacturers to prepare material safety data sheets (MSDS) before a hazardous substance is supplied to another person for use at work. The MSDS must include the following information:
- recommended uses
- chemical and physical properties
- description of each ingredient used in its preparation
- relevant health hazard information
- precautions to be followed for safe use
- emergency and general contact details of the manufacturer.