Legal Compliance

A certain degree of complexity and “mystery” surrounds perceptions of workplace health and safety legal requirements. And whilst most business owners might agree, regulatory requirements are currently designed for “Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking” (PCBU) or business owners to allow compliance to legislation, based on the “nature, scale and scope of the business” only. That is, depending upon the extent of risks (and severity) within the business, compliance may be achieved in many different ways, supported by the statement “as far as reasonably practicable”.

Briefly, this means that provided a business owner understands the business risks (based on nature, scale of the business) and implements work practices to eliminate or manage such risks, then legal compliance may be achieved. However, the uncertainty may occur in “how” the business manages its risks.

Business owners/operators are required to display “due diligence” when managing workplace risks with current industry practice of providing an effective WHS Management System to assist in this regard. Operation and sustainability of an effective system may significantly contribute towards business owners meeting their obligations under current legislation.

Reference to the NSW WorkCover website or Safe Work Australia will provide further information regarding current State and Federal legislation.

Understanding your legal obligations might be proving difficult or you may just wish to discuss a specific issue, please complete an enquiry form (via contacts page) or call.