BSBWHS302

Apply knowledge of WHS

legislation in the workplace
 ***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***
 Start Date :19.7.21

 End Date : 1.8.21

 Submissions due on Turnitin.

 WHS/OHS
 WHS/OHS stands for
Work health and safety
or occupational health
and safety.
 Victoria – Occupational
Health and Safety Act
2004 and Occupational
Health and Safety
Regulations 2017.
 Health and safety in the
workplace
WHS/OHS will include aspects such as:
 Worker’s rights
 Safe premises
 Emergency protocols
 Safe equipment and machinery
 Risk assessments
 Workplace procedures and processes
for work tasks.
 Work health and safety or
occupational health and safety
 WHS law was developed in 2011 and came into
force in January 2012 to create a harmonised
approach and replace existing OHS laws with
model WHS laws.
 Victoria has not yet implemented the model
WHS laws, Western Australia are looking to
include elements of this.
 It will depend upon your state/territory as
to whether this is termed as WHS or OHS.
 Accessing health and safety
When reading or searching for relevant
guidance, always make sure that you
use current copies and sources of
information.
WHS/OHS guidance may include:
 WHS or OHS legislation or regulations
 Health and safety information for the workplace
 Environmental requirements for conducting business
 Workers’ health guidance and worker’s rights
 Industry-specific guidance
 Acts and regulations
 As a general rule, an act is the
statement of law and the
regulation is the means by which
a law is implemented (i.e., the
command)
 A code of practice is the
documented instruction which
has been written to provide
guidance.
 WHS/OHS objectives
The objectives and components of WHS/OHS
legislation include:
 Actions that must be taken for legal compliance
 Employer responsibilities to provide a safe workplace
 Employee responsibility to participate in WHS practices
 Employee responsibilities to ensure safety of self,
other workers and other people in the workplace.
 Safe Work Australia
 Safe Work Australia is an Australian
government statutory agency established
in 2009 under the Safe Work Australia Act
2008.
 Their primary responsibility is to improve
work health and safety and workers’
compensation arrangements across
Australia. 
 It works to ensure compliance with WHS
laws are carried out in all workplaces.
 The organisation helps in the running and
development of national policy and
strategies for safe working environments.
 Codes of practice
Safe Work Australia has model codes of practice to
harmonise with the work health and safety laws.
These include:
 Work health and safety consultation, cooperation
and coordination
 Managing the work environment and facilities
 First aid in the workplace
 Labelling workplace hazardous chemicals.
 Duty holders explained
 Under WHS/OHS, every person in the
workplace has an obligation at some
level to carry out workplace health and
safety.
 Employees and all persons in the
workplace have a responsibility to
interact appropriately and safely in the
workplace and to safeguard theirs and
others health and safety, as far as
practicable.
 Those with specific duties are known as
duty holders.
 Persons with health and safety
duties may include:
 Health and safety officers
 Health and safety representatives (HSRs)
 Managers and supervisors
 Other persons authorised or nominated by the
organisation
 PCBUs or their officers
 Team leaders
 Union officers
 WHS inspectors
 WHS entry permit holders.
A person conducting a business or
undertaking (PCBU)
 A PCBU is the individual person or organisation that
is legally operating a business or undertaking.
 The primary duty of care for workplace health and
safety is held by a PCBU.

 If a person is exposed to a risk to their

health and safety as a result of the
work carried out as part of the
conduct of the business of
undertaking, the PCBU will be held
liable.
 The importance of health and
safety duties
Roles with health and safety will include:
 Maintaining health and safety knowledge for the
workplace
 Performing legal compliance duties for health
and safety
 Work health and safety training
 Carrying out hazard and risk assessments
 Train workers and health and
safety representatives (HSRs)
 Your organisation’s employees and any HSRs should
be given appropriate training and guidance to enable
them to be safe at work and to carry out their
required work roles
 To organise or administer training
requirements, you will need to know
who to discuss such matters of training
with, and the types of training that
should be given.
 Training Employees
 This may be in the form of initial induction training,
which covers the applicable health and safety
concerns for employees, and also through instruction
and policy/procedural documentation
 Your organisation may also provide ad hoc training as
required or regularly conduct health and safety
consultations with employees to discuss concerns.
 Training HSRs
 HSRs have a training entitlement to help them fulfil
their duties within health and safety.
 It is not compulsory for HSRs to have specific health
and safety training.
 Entitlement is an initial five day training course plus a
one day refresher training course each year
afterwards.
 Non-compliance
 Non-compliance is the failure to carry out actions as
required. This can be in regards to the wishes of
another or, as in this case, a legal requirement
 Your organisation must comply with the appropriate
health and safety laws for its jurisdiction; it must also
ensure that it has its own health and safety policy
and procedures in place.
 Non-compliance with WHS/OHS
Safe Work Australia work with the
Government to help enforce the
model work health and safety laws,
one of their roles is to assist in the
development of policy for compliance
and enforcement. Regulators in each
state or territory will then ensure
that health and safety is carried out
appropriately.
Inspectors working for regulators
can:
 Ask the organisation questions which
must be answered
 Check organisational documentation
 Seize items for use as evidence
 Issue improvement and
prohibition notices.
 Methods to enforce
 Advising on compliance and requesting the
workplace to voluntary comply
 Resolving or assisting workplaces to resolve
health and safety disputes
 Issuing a prohibition notice or an
improvement notice
 Seeking an injunction
 Issuing an infringement notice .
 Monitoring health and safety
If you are required to help your organisation to comply
or maintain its health and safety, you will need to check
that actions follow organisational policy and
procedures, and legislation.
 Monitoring health and safety
 Monitoring and observing work areas
 Weekly equipment and premises checks
 Hazard/risk assessments
 Checking work logs and records
 Checking organisational documentation,
e.g., making sure business licences are
up-to-date and work schedules are
realistic
 Documenting WHS monitoring
duties
 Records are required to show accountability of
organisational activities and for fulfilling legal
reporting requirements
 These should be logically documented to workplace
system requirements and signed/dated as required.
 Hazards and risks
A risk assessment makes it known where potential
risks lie and will allow you/your organisation to put
controls into place to eliminate or minimise these to
acceptable levels.
A risk assessment considers the following:
 How severe the potential harm is
 How the hazards could cause harm
 How likely it is for harm to occur.
 Monitoring work activities
 Monitoring includes employee work hours
to ensure that employees are not working
over their hours without a rest break
 Employee work roles should be
clearly defined and provide guidance
on work tasks, expectations and
responsibilities
 Premises, equipment and tools should
be checked regularly to ensure these
are fit for purpose.
Complying with health and safety
legislation
To ensure your organisation complies, you will need to
know what needs to be done to ensure that workplace
activities are deemed safe and legal. Referring to
legislative guidance, codes of practice and industry-
specific information will give you knowledge on what
your organisation needs to do.
 The model Work Health and
Safety Regulations include:
 Representation
 Issue resolution
 Cessation of unsafe work
 Managing risks to health and safety
 Information, training and instruction
 Providing and maintaining premises and facilities
 First aid requirements
 Emergency planning and procedures
 Communicate effectively with
others at workplace
Communicating work health and safety includes:
 Posters and information pamphlets on notice boards
and in work areas
 Written messages and notifications
 Emails and staff memos
 Meetings
 Consultations
 Staff discussions and health and
safety training.
WHS/OHS workplace signs
 Contributing to legal compliance
This may take the form of
communicating information
throughout the workplace on
acceptable work practices,
providing information to colleagues
and/or managers, guiding or
advising colleagues, or producing
procedural/written guidance. How
you contribute to legal compliance
will depend on your organisation
and your work role.
 Acting on non-compliance
You should:
 Gather all relevant information,
evidence and supporting statements
 Evaluate the information and determine
the measures that are required to rectify
the non-compliance
 Put actions in place to ensure that the
workplace complies with work health
and safety legislation.
 You may be made aware of
non-compliance through:
 Workplace observations
 Risk assessments
 Health and safety
incidents/accidents
 Assessing workplace reports
and/or documentation
 Employee reports of non-
compliance.
 Reporting non-compliance
 Employees, as part of their responsibility to
maintain health and safety of themselves and
others, should report health and safety
concerns or breaches
 Your employer must fulfil their legal
responsibility to address concerns and breaches
to make sure the workplace is both safe and
compliant
 Issues that either have not been or cannot be
addressed internally should be reported to the
appropriate regulatory authority.
Resolve issues of non-compliance
Some changes may be easy to carry out, such as
implementing additional safety procedures or including
new administrative controls. Others may have cost
implications, such as updating machinery, making
alterations in the premises or hiring additional staff.
 Developing risk control options
Risk control measures involve either:
 Eliminating the hazard
 Substituting the hazard with a lesser
risk
 Isolating the hazard
 Using engineering controls
 Using administrative controls
 Using personal protective
equipment.
 Accessing WHS/OHS information
and assistance
WHS information, including legislation,
regulations and codes of practice, can
be accessed to help you and your
organisation formulate a WHS system,
and effective policies and procedures
for all health and safety concerns in
the workplace.
 WHS authorities/regulators
 WHS authorities/regulators can assist organisations
in compliance and workplace guidance; these are
state/territory specific
 Other national regulators exist, these include
Comcare, NOPSEMA, NICNAS, AMSA and NHVR.
 Keeping up-to-date with work
health and safety information
Keeping up-to-date with WHS/OHS will mean:
 Scheduling in work health and safety duties
which includes accessing information
 Reviewing information on a regular basis
 Checking WHS/OHS information
sites and authorities, and seeking
advice as needed
 Reviewing workplace health
and safety.
 Listening
You should give the person your full attention and allow
them time to finish their words before responding;
ignoring distractions will also show the person that you
are fully engaged with them.
Listening includes:
 Active listening
 Empathetic listening.
 Questioning
Questioning includes:
 Open-questioning
 Closed-questioning
 Probing questions.
 A right to consultation
 Employees and workers in the workplace have a right
to be consulted in matters of health and safety as this
directly affects their wellbeing
 Employers should not make any changes in the
workplace without first consulting their workforce.
Assessment Time
 Assessment Tasks

Written Questions Assessment Task 1

Assessment
Methods  
Project Assessment Task 2
 
 Task 1 Q 16
 A. How can you communicate changes in WHS legislation and information
to people in the workplace? (Provide four methods.)

 B. Demonstrate to your assessor, how you would Utilise your

communication skills, using proper language and appropriate non-
verbal features to achieve a good outcome for properly
communicating the changes in WHS Legislation.

(A small role play exercise could do well here) to show active listening
and questioning techniques to confirm understanding of the task of
gathering and dissipating information.
 Project Assessment Task 2

 You have just commenced employment for A.C.E. constructions, an

independent home building construction company. As part of the company
induction you have to attend a WHS session to ensure you meet company
compliance standards.

 At the end of the session you have been asked to research and answer
some questions to test your understanding and to make sure you have the
correct amount of knowledge before commencing at the worksite.