The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 is a law that helps keep workplaces safe. It's known as the OHS Act. The OHS Act places responsibilities on various people. They include employers, people who manage or control a workplace, self-employed people and employees. You will have different OHS Act responsibilities depending on your role. Find out about your role and workplace responsibilities.
Protection from hazards and risks
The welfare of people who work in the sex industry and their clients is a priority. Sex workers, their clients and others must have protection from hazards and risks to their health and safety. Putting in place and following a process to manage hazards and risks is an important part of workplace safety.
The risk management process
A hazard is something that can cause harm. A risk is the chance of a hazard causing harm. Harm includes injury, illness and death. Like other industries, the sex industry has a wide range of hazards and risks. The risks must be controlled, so far as is reasonably practicable.
A safe and healthy workplace requires an organised approach to finding and fixing hazards and risks. This approach is known as the risk management process.
The risk management process is a continuous cycle. It begins with consultation between employers and their employees. The process then follows a series of steps. The steps are:
- Identify hazards.
- Assess the risks those hazards create.
- Control risks. Do this by eliminating the risk. If it's not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks, reduce them as far as is reasonably practicable.
- Review and revise risk control methods.
Consultation
The OHS Act places health and safety duties on employers and others. One OHS Act duty requires employers to consult with employees. Under the OHS Act, your employees can include:
- independent contractors you have engaged
- employees of the independent contractors
Consultation between employers and employees is an important part of risk management. It continues through every step of the risk management process. Employers must consult with employees about certain things that will affect them or are likely to directly affect them. This includes when:
- finding and investigating hazards and risks
- deciding how to control risks
- planning changes to how work is done
- planning changes to the workplace
- planning changes to the equipment, substances or other things used at the workplace
Employers have to give employees a reasonable opportunity to share their views. Employers also have to take employees' views and suggestions into account.
Consultation with employees must involve sharing information about their health, safety and welfare.
Find more information about consultation on the WorkSafe website.
How to manage work health and safety risks
The following 4-step process can help control health and safety risks in the sex industry.
Identifying hazards involves finding all of the hazards in the workplace. It also involves understanding the possible harm the hazards may cause.
How to identify hazards
You must consult with employees when identifying hazards. Other ways to identify hazards include:
- inspecting the workplace
- speaking to clients
- information from industry bodies, regulators and specialists and others
- reading instruction manuals
- reviewing records of incident reports, complaints, health monitoring and the like
Where to look
Look at all parts of work, including:
- the physical work environment
- equipment, materials and substances used
- work tasks and how they are performed
- work design and management, for example, escort work and shift work
Hazard identification provides information about hazards in the workplace area you have assessed. Different areas may require different assessments. Keep a list of what the hazards were and their location. This will help ensure nothing is forgotten when deciding how to keep employees safe and healthy.
Risk assessment is a process for developing knowledge and understanding about hazards and risks. It helps ensure sound decisions about risk controls.
Risk assessments help work out:
- what levels of harm can occur
- how harm can occur
- the likelihood that harm will occur
Level of risk
Work out the level of risk. To do this, consider the possible severity of injury and the likelihood of it occurring.
The level of risk will increase as the likelihood and severity of harm increase.
Likelihood of harm
Work out the likelihood of harm occurring. You can estimate the likelihood of harm by considering, for example:
- How often the task is done. Does this make the harm more or less likely?
- The circumstances in which the hazard occurs.
- Has harm happened before, either in your workplace or somewhere else? How often?
Consider whether the harm is:
- certain to occur
- very likely
- possible
- unlikely or rare
Risks must be eliminated, so far as is reasonably practicable. If risks cannot be eliminated, they must be reduced so far as is reasonably practicable.
Controlling risks requires the use of risk control measures. Risk control measures are also known as risk controls or controls. Deciding on appropriate risk controls involves the following:
- Identifying the options for risk controls. A risk control option may be a single control or it may be made up of different controls. Together, the different controls provide protection against a risk.
- Considering risk control options and selecting suitable options. A suitable option is one that most effectively eliminates or reduces risk in the circumstances. Reducing the risk might require multiple risk controls, not just one.
- Implementing the selected option or options.
Finding the best control
The ways of controlling risks can be ranked from the highest level of protection and reliability to the lowest. This ranking is known as the hierarchy of risk control. The following guidance explains the hierarchy of risk control. Always start at the most effective control – Level 1, eliminate the hazard – and work down the hierarchy.
The hierarchy of risk control
Level 1 – most effective
Eliminate the hazardLevel 2
Reduce the risk with one or more of the following controls.- Substitution
Substitute the hazard with something safer. - Isolation
Isolate people from the hazard. - Engineering controls
Reduce the risks through engineering changes or changes to systems of work.
Level 3
- Use administrative actions to reduce exposure to risks and reduce level of harm.
Level 4
- Use personal protective equipment.
Find more information about the hierarchy of control on the WorkSafe website.
Consider various risk control options. Elimination should be your goal. Choose the risk controls that eliminate the hazard. If is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the hazard, use risk controls that minimise the risk of harm. You must reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable.
Remember, risk control may involve a combination of different controls. The aim is to provide the highest level of reasonably practicable protection.
Reviewing risk control measures will help you ensure they are working. Reviews will also help you identify if your controls become less effective, or if there are other controls you should introduce.
Regular reviews
Review your risk controls regularly to make sure they work as planned. Don’t wait until something goes wrong.
If you find problems, go back through the risk management steps. Review your information and make further decisions about risk control.
Find more information about risk controls and risk control plans on the WorkSafe website.
WorkSafe Advisory Service
WorkSafe's advisory service is available between 7:30am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday. If you need more support, you can also contact WorkSafe using the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) or the National Relay Service.