Welcome, and how this works

Jump around freely. Use Contents at the top right to revisit any section at any time, including after the assessment.

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This course takes about 45 minutes. You can stop at any point and pick up where you left off.

It is for anyone who needs to understand who is responsible for safety and how far that responsibility goes, workers, supervisors, managers, business owners, board members, contractors and people who buy, design or supply things other people work with.

What it covers

The four structural rules that make the whole scheme make sense
The PCBU and the primary duty of care
Officers: who counts as one, and what due diligence actually requires
Workers, and other people at a workplace
The upstream duty holders: designers, manufacturers, suppliers, installers
What “so far as is reasonably practicable” means, including the cost limb
Overlapping duties, and the obligation to consult
What happens when it goes wrong
Where the rules are different: Victoria, mining, transport

The law it is based on

The model WHS laws, which are in force in the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Section numbers used here are the model Act’s, and they are the same in each of those jurisdictions.

Section numbers in this course link to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), which is the model Act as enacted in New South Wales. The numbering is the same in every jurisdiction listed above. Links open in a new tab.

Victoria has kept its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, which reaches similar outcomes with different language. Unit 10 sets out the differences, so read that one carefully if you work in Victoria.

What it is not

It is general information about how the duties are structured. It is not legal advice, it cannot tell you whether you have met a duty in your own circumstances, and it does not cover every duty holder in every industry.

Penalty amounts are deliberately left out. They differ between jurisdictions and are indexed regularly, so any figure printed here would be wrong before long. Your regulator publishes the current ones.