Download a flowchart for a guide to Dealing with H&S Breaches.
Legal Position
An employer’s duties to provide safeguards for safety and health in the workplace exist in Common Law as well as in legislation.
The main legislation governing health & safety in the workplace comprises:
The legislation places a duty on every employer to provide a safe and healthy working environment for all employees, as well as contractors or subcontractors and their employees working in the workplace.
Policy
Our policy addresses the provision and maintenance of a safe and healthy environment for all people on our premises.
We provide training and support in the area of health and safety to ensure employees have the safest work environment possible. Employees are responsible collectively and individually for the safety of themselves and their colleagues.
Employees are required to take responsibility for safety and health at work and must ensure their actions do not harm anyone else. However, this does not in any way lessen your duty as the employer.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 puts emphasis on the need for co-operation and communication between employees and their employer and on the importance of safety training.
Penalties are severe. Anyone who takes an action contrary to a provision of the Act or who fails to act where the statute requires action, and who knows that death or serious harm is reasonably likely to result because of that action or failure to act, faces a significant fine, or prison or both. In the case of a reckless disregard, the penalty for the PCBU is a fine of up to $3M; and for a worker or officer a fine of up to $300k and up to 5 years in prison.
Guidelines for handling health and safety issues
The correct handling of H&S issues is an important responsibility of an employer. Under the prevailing health and safety legislation, employees are lawfully entitled to withdraw their labour from any work areas where they have reasonable grounds for believing that a hazard is creating a direct and immediate threat to their health or safety.
Follow the Health & Safety Flowchart to ensure the sound handling of H&S issues.
Back to Specific Types of Misconduct