Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01380:reg:1:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01380
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 1 (pt 4/8)
Character Range: 16427–19385

provide workers with a lower level of protection simply because you are in a lesser financial position than another PCBU facing the same hazards or risks in similar circumstances.

Your goal to produce a product or provide a service at a particular price cannot override your duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your workers and others.

For further information see the Safe Work Australia Interpretive Guideline: The meaning of 'reasonably practicable'.

Designers, manufacturers, importers, installers and suppliers of plant, substances, and structures

Designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant, structures or substances can influence the safety of these products before they are used in the workplace.

These duty holders must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, these products are without risks to the health (including psychological health) and safety of workers or others who are at or near the workplace.

Officers

Officers, such as departmental secretaries or company directors, have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with its duties under the WHS Act and WHS Regulations. For psychosocial risks this means the officer must take reasonable steps to:

    -          acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of psychosocial work health and safety matters
    -          gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking of the PCBU and generally of the psychosocial hazards and risks associated with those operations
    -          ensure the PCBU has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks from work carried out by the business or undertaking
    -          ensure the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, psychosocial hazards and risks to health and safety and responding in a timely way to that information
    -          ensure the PCBU has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation they have under the WHS Act and WHS Regulations, and
    -          verify the provision and use of the resources and processes mentioned above and that they are performing effectively.

For information on officers and their duties see the Safe Work Australia Interpretive Guideline: The health and safety duty of an officer.

Workers

Workers must take reasonable care for their own psychological and physical health and safety and to not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons. Workers must comply with reasonable health and safety instructions, as far as they are reasonably able, and co-operate with reasonable health and safety policies or procedures that have been notified to workers.

A person is a worker if the person carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU including work as an employee, a contractor or sub-contractor or their employees, a