Employee Health And Safety

Employee health and safety is almost always described as something done for workers. Workers hold a duty of their own under work health and safety law, and most have never had it explained.

A worker must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect others, comply so far as they are reasonably able with reasonable instructions, and co-operate with reasonable policies and procedures they have been told about.

Two things follow that are worth saying in training. The duty is qualified by reasonableness throughout, so it is not a device for shifting blame onto an injured worker. And it depends on the employer having actually provided the instruction and told them about the procedure.

An organisation that has not trained someone cannot rely on their failure to follow what they were never taught.

Safe Work Australia sets out worker duties. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s work health and safety course and workplace compliance courses.