Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) has undergone some significant transition in the last few years and is now known as Work Health & Safety (WHS).

The main aim of the transition is to standardise work health and safety laws across the states and territories of Australia.

This harmonisation will bring equity in safety standards to all workers across the country, as well as provide less confusion and complexity for business working across borders to help them achieve legal compliance and an improved safety performance.

Who’s who in the Zoo

Some of the key changes are in relation to the new work health and safety legislation are in role terminology and the corresponding required duty of care. In summary;

Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU)

This term takes the place of the term “employer”. If you run a business or undertaking you have responsibility for the safety of workers and others – regardless of whether you’re an employer or not. There are many additional responsibilities for PCBUs through the WHS laws.

Officer

An Officer is a person working for a PCBU that makes, or contributes to, making decisions about the whole or a substantive part of the business or undertaking. Officers are required to “Exercise Due Diligence”. That is:

• Keep up-to-date on WHS matters
• Understand their business or undertaking and generally the hazards and risk associated with that business or undertaking
• Make available for use and ensure the use of appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety of that business or undertaking
• Ensure appropriate resources to collect and consider information regarding incidents, hazards & risks and responding to these in a timely way
• Ensure appropriate processes are in place to comply with any duty or obligation under the WHS Act and Regulation. This may include but is not limited to; reporting notifiable incidents, consulting with workers, providing training and instruction to workers about work health and safety
• Verify the provision and use of resources for the above points ‚Äì that is, be assured that all appropriate resources and processes are in place.

Workers

The term Workers takes the place of employees. All workers affected by the business or undertaking are owed a duty of care regardless of whether they are an employee or not. Workers also have responsibility to:

• Take reasonable care for his or her own safety
• Take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect other persons
• Comply, so far as the worker is reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction  that is given by the PCBU to allow the person to comply with this Act
• Cooperate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the PCBU relating to health and safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers

Others

Others is the term given to people who are not PCBUs, Officers or Workers who may be affected by work health and safety issues – for example clients or the general public. They must:

• Take reasonable care for his or her own safety
• Take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect other persons
• Comply, so far as the worker is reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction  that is given by the PCBU to allow the person to comply with this Act

Remember, to exercise due diligence and be compliant with the new laws businesses must keep up-to-date on WHS matters and develop the ability to manage work health and safety hazards and risks.