South Australia's Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws are aligned with New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth, providing workers the same standard of health and safety protection regardless of where they work, or the job they do. The key principles of the laws are consistent with long established and familiar work health and safety principles.
The primary duty of a PCBU (section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 SA) is to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers (and others, like clients, visitors and customers) is not put at risk by the work carried out by the business or undertaking.
What is reasonably practicable is determined objectively. This means that a duty-holder must meet the standard of behaviour expected of a reasonable person in the duty-holder’s position and who is required to comply with the same duty.
Reasonably practicable means whatever is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health or safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:
- the likelihood of a hazard or risk occurring
- the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or risk
- what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk, and ways of eliminating or minimising the risk
- the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk
- whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk
Important aspects of the term reasonably practicable include:
- what could be done at the time
- the need to weigh up all relevant matters
- cost (which may only be considered after all other aspects have been assessed)
- availability and suitability of ways of eliminating or minimising the risk
- the level of control a PCBU has over the matter
Click here to access the Safe Work Interpretive Guideline – Model Work Health and Safety Act and the meaning of Reasonably Practicable.