Welcome to our new 5 Minute Safety video series. In this series we cover key health and safety topics in try to do it in 5 minutes!
Check out the first video in the series below – WHS Legislation in Australia
In Australia we have two different types of legal systems that operate. We have our statutory law which includes the Acts and Regulations and we have common law which is the workers entitlement to make claims against their employer for perceived negligence.
COMMON LAW:
Common law works when an injury has been sustained by a worker and they’re unable to return to work into their previous capacity.
In this situation through the workers’ compensation systems they will make a claim against the employer for perceived negligence.
That negligence may present itself in the form of lack of appropriate systems, or an unsafe workplace, for example a slippery floor.
That claim will be settled legally either in or out of court, and either in favor or not for the worker.
STATUTORY LAW:
Statutory law works differently. In statutory law, we have work health and safety legislation (which will be a main focus for this blog), but will also include things like Chain of Responsibility (our heavy vehicle legislation, fire safety, dangerous goods, building codes).
All these things will have impacts on health and safety.
HEALTH & SAFETY LEGISLATION:
For the health and safety legislation itself we have three different levels. We have the Act which is the overarching principles, we have the Regulations which are more the rules, and Codes of Practice which are more the guidance documents.
Let’s have a look at each one of those and just see what we can take away as practitioners.
The Act:
The Act includes things like work health and safety duties. There are pretty critical and we’re going to be covering those in a later video.
We have duties for the workplace itself, for officers, which would be senior managers, as well as workers.
Other things that are covered under the Act will include things like incident notification, consultation, as well as the general workplace health and safety enforcement system as well.
The Regulations:
The Regulations include things like different types of risk. Such as:
- First aid
- Falling objects
- Confined spaces
- Noise
- Working at heights
- Hazardous chemicals
- Asbestos
- Construction work
There’s a lot of information in the Work Health and Safety Regulation and frankly is really hard to find, and even when you find it, it’s not always easy to read.
Code of Practice:
Codes of Practice on the other hand are much easier. They are distinct and discreet documents that cover topics such as first aid, manual tasks, noise, and confined spaces – those types of things.
The Codes of Practice are written in plain English, but also have references to the Acts and
Regulations were required, so hands down the Codes of Practice are the best place to go to if you’re looking for information on health and safety legislation and best practice on a particular topic.
TAKEAWAYS:
- We have, in Australia, work health and safety law which includes statutory legislation as well as, common law entitlements.
- Our legislation will include Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice and these are all enforced by state governments.
- When it comes to us finding information out about health and safety laws, the Codes of Practice and definitely the best place to go to.
- As I’ve said, they have plain English versions or descriptions of the different health and safety topics, but also clear references to the legislation where appropriate.