Summary

1. Work health and safety (WHS) is concerned with the health and safety of all people in the workplace. The main objective of WHS is to prevent injury or harm in the workplace.
2. The WHS legislation is made up of the model WHS Act, Regulations, Codes of Practice and a national compliance and enforcement policy. Each state and territory has a regulator to enforce legislation in their area.
3. Regularly accessing WHS information is essential to keeping policies, procedures and work practices in compliance with the legislation requirements. State or territory regulators provide valuable resources that can help you to comply with WHS laws.
4. Duty of care describes the legal obligation that individuals and organisations have to anticipate and act on possible causes of injury and illness that may exist in their work environment or as a result of their actions. A person or organisation must do everything they can to remove or minimise the possible cause of harm.
5. Everyone in the community services environment, including visitors, workers, officers and PCBUs, have duties under WHS legislation. The PCBUs and their officers have a higher level of responsibility that covers all aspects of the workplace. All workers have a duty to raise issues related to hazards, incident and injuries.
6. Your WHS policy is a written statement of how your workplace is committed to achieving a safe and healthy workplace. These policies should be developed in consultation with workers, should clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of management and workers and should be monitored regularly to ensure compliance with WHS legislation.
7. Hazard identification, risk assessment and risk management are performed by all duty holders and are essential to keeping the workplace safe. At each stage of the process, a high level of risk analysis, consultation and documentation is required.
8. The PCBU has a responsibility, where reasonably practicable, to either employ or engage a suitably qualified person to provide expert WHS advice to the HSC, HSR and workers as required.