Understanding your work health and safety duties

Work health and safety duties 

The information below summarises duties under the model work health and safety laws. These laws have been implemented in all jurisdictions except Victoria. For information on Victoria’s work health and safety laws, see WorkSafe Victoria.

What do PCBUs have to do?

Workplace hazards that create risks of harm to mental health are called psychosocial hazards.

Under the model Work Health and Safety laws, persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) such as employers, must:

• identify psychosocial hazards
• eliminate and minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and
• check control measures remain effective.

PCBUs must do this in consultation with workers and their representatives.

When controlling psychosocial hazards, PCBUs must consider:

• the duration, frequency and severity of exposure to hazards, and
• how psychosocial hazards may interact or combine.

It is not enough to just control psychosocial risks through workplace policies and training. PCBUs must also consider things like:

• the design of work and systems of work
• the design of the workplace, layout and environmental conditions of the workplace including providing safe means of entry and exit, and facilities for the welfare of workers
• equipment, tools, substances and structures at the workplace
• workplace interactions or behaviours, and
• information, training, instruction and supervision provided to workers. 

An officer of a PCBU is a person who makes decisions that affect all or part of an organisation or business (e.g. company director). They must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with their duties under work health and safety laws. This involves:

• keeping up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters
• understanding the psychosocial hazards and risks associated with the organisation or business
• ensuring the organisation or business has and uses appropriate resources to manage psychosocial risks, and
• ensuring the business has reporting processes for incidents, hazards and other work health and safety issues, and checking these processes are being followed.

See Safe Work Australia’s website for further information on work health and safety duties and psychosocial hazards.

What do workers have to do?

Under the model work health and safety laws, workers have a duty to:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety
• take reasonable care not to adversely affect the health and safety of others
• comply with reasonable health and safety instructions so far as they are reasonably able, and
• cooperate with reasonable policies and procedures that have been notified to them.

What do other people have to do?

Other people, such as customers or visitors to a workplace, have a duty to:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety
• take reasonable care not to adversely affect the health and safety of others, and
• comply with reasonable health and safety instructions so far as they are reasonably able.

You can find out more about specific obligations in your jurisdiction through your work health and safety regulator.

Other relevant laws

Other laws include:

Criminal laws 

These may apply when incidents of bullying involve an assault or other criminal behaviour.

Anti-discrimination laws 

Each Australian jurisdiction (federal and state/territory) regulates against discrimination. Organisations must also make reasonable adjustments to accommodate workers with mental disorders.

Fair Work Act 2009 and some jurisdictional industrial laws 

These laws cover bullying at work. They also prohibit an employer from taking any adverse action against a worker (current or prospective) because of their disability.

Privacy laws

Each Australian jurisdiction (federal and state/territory) regulates handling and disclosure of personal information and health care records.

Disclosure by an employee during employment 

Workers do not have to disclose information about a mental health condition if it does not affect how they do their job.

Disclosure during recruitment process 

An employer may ask an applicant to disclose a known disability or illness, including a mental health condition, that might reasonably be expected to affect the applicant’s ability to perform inherent requirements of the job and to identify if any reasonable adjustments may be needed.

This summary was adapted from content created by Safe Work Australia with permission.