Work Health and Safety Policy Template

Did you know these facts about Work Health and Safety?

• According to Key WHS Statistics Australia 2018, 190 workers were fatally injured in the year 2017.
• A work health and safety policy is an official document that clearly defines how a company should comply with WHS regulations and train its employees to reduce WHS incidents.
• Work health and safety is about protecting the health and safety of all stakeholders in a workplace from hazards and risks arising from work activities.

Work Health and Safety Policy overview

This work health and safety policy covers what workplace health and safety is and provides guidelines for the professional WHS standards required within your organisation. It deals with the standards of health and safety conditions of employees, volunteers, customers, and suppliers who work at your premises.

This work health and safety policy template can be adapted to meet the specific needs of your organisation. You can change as little or as much of the content as you like. Some sections may be governed by state and federal legislation. It is important that you seek your HR or legal advice, maintain this policy as legislation changes and adjust it to meet your requirements.

Target audience

This work health and safety policy template is suitable for all your employees, contractors, and volunteers at your workplaces. Once you have adjusted the work health and safety policy template to meet the specific requirements of your organisation, you can deliver it to new starters at induction and as refresher training on a regular basis.

Topics covered

The following topics are covered in this work health and safety policy:

• Identify hazards, risks, and incidents
• Achieve a safe and incident-free workplace
• Promote the participation of employees in WHS decisions
• Employee WHS training

Duration

This work health and safety policy will take approximately five minutes to complete.

Learning outcomes

The following learning outcomes will be achieved on completion of this work health and safety policy:

• Understand the professional standards of work health and safety that are to be followed.
• Recognise the types of behaviour that constitute acting with responsibility towards self and others.
• Understand that everyone has a responsibility to contribute to a safe workplace.
• Recognise personal responsibility to comply with this work health and safety policy.
• Contribute to work health and safety decisions.
• Acknowledge that the work health and safety policy does not cover every possible event or action and that caution and common sense are required.

Business outcomes

Once all employees, contractors and volunteers have completed your work health and safety policy, the following business outcomes will be achieved for your organisation:

• Reduce employee health and safety incidents in your workplace.
• Mitigate the risk of legal liability associated with non-compliance to workplace health and safety standards.
• Protect your reputation from the damage caused by incidents of employee, contractors, and volunteer health and safety compromise.
• Present a vision for professional standards in your workplace.
• Increase engagement by supporting a workplace culture that cares for the health and safety of its employees.
• Become a responsible employer by following the regulations and training your staff for WHS.

How to use this work health and safety policy template