Preliminary – Overview of OHS Act purpose and principles

Commencement (section 3)

The OHS Act started on 1 July 2005. It replaced the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985.

Objects of the OHS Act (section 2)

The OHS Act gives a broad framework for improving workplace health and safety standards, to lower work-related injury and illness. It lets duty-holders decide their own ways of complying with the OHS Act.

The OHS Act aims to:

• protect the health, safety and welfare of employees and other people at work
• protect the public from the health and safety risks of business activities
• eliminate workplace risks to the health, safety and welfare of employees and other people at work
• allow employers, employees and the organisations that represent them to be involved in creating and applying health, safety and welfare standards.

In the OHS Act, the meaning of the term health includes psychological health as well as physical health.

The principles of health and safety protection (section 4)

The following health and safety principles should be applied under the OHS Act:

• Employees, other people at work and members of the public are given the highest level of health and safety protection that is reasonably practicable.
• Those who manage or control activities that can cause or create health and safety risks are responsible for:
  • eliminating those risks so far as is reasonably practicable
  • reducing those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
• Employers and self-employed people should be proactive and take reasonably practicable measures to ensure health and safety in their business activities.
• Employers and employees should share information about risks to health or safety and measures that can be taken to eliminate or reduce those risks.
• Employees are entitled to be represented on health and safety issues and should be encouraged to.

Who is covered by the OHS Act? (section 5)

People protected under the OHS Act include:

• employees
• labour hire workers
• independent contractors
• sub-contractors
• outworkers
• employees in State Government departments and instrumentalities.

Commonwealth Government employees and employers located in Victoria have duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), rather than the OHS Act. A small number of employers operating in Victoria have elected to be self-insured licensees under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth). They have duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth), rather than the OHS Act.

For a current list of self-insured licensees, visit Australian Governments Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC).

The OHS Act also protects the general public by requiring duty holders to make sure that their work or business activities do not put the health and safety of the public at risk.