WH&S Due Diligence – Are your Officers doing enough?
A Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking has health and safety duties under the Work Health and Safety Act. The PCBU may be a corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, a self-employed person or a sole trader.
Section 27 of the WHS Act places a duty to exercise due diligence on officers, to require them to take reasonable steps to ensure that the PCBU uses and applies appropriate resources, policies, procedures and health and safety practices in the conduct of a business or undertaking. If an officer fails to exercise due diligence requirements, they can be held personally liable and be prosecuted for a failure to comply with due diligence obligations.
An officer is a senior executive who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business or undertaking. There are three kinds of officers of a ‘person conducting a business of undertaking’ (PCBU) under the model WHS Act:
- an officer within the meaning of section 9 of the Corporations Act, other than a partner in a partnership
- an officer of the Crown, and
- an officer of a public authority.
Due Diligence Requirements
Officers must take active and inquisitive roles in the planning and actioning of health and safety initiatives. Officers are not required to conduct all tasks and activities associated with workplace health and safety; rather they must be involved and active in terms of seeking information about WH&S performance and facilitating and or initiating improvement.
To meet due diligence requirements, an ‘Officer’ must:
- Acquire and keep up to date knowledge of WHS matters.
- Gain an understanding of the nature of the companies operation and the risks and hazards of the operation/s.
- Ensure the company has adequate resources and processes in place to enable hazards to be identified, and the associated risks to be eliminated, or minimised.
- Ensure the company has appropriate processes in place to receive and consider information in relation to incidents, hazards and risks and responds to that information in a timely and auditable fashion.
- Have the ability to transparently verify the provision and use of the resources and processes.
If you are an Officer –are you confident that you are doing enough to meet WH&S Due Diligence requirements?
At HR Business Direction we are able to assist with WH&S Due Diligence. Contact us here.
Christina Willcox MHSc; PostGradDip OHS; BBus(HRM)
Workplace Health & Safety Specialist
christina.willcox@hrbd.com.au
07 3890 2066
www.hrbd.com.au
