WHS 2020: what does it mean for me?
By Antony Pearson
Work health and safety organiser
With the recent implementation of the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WHS Act) in WA, what key points of change may affect school and TAFE environments, compared with the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (OSH Act)?
Duty of care
Duties of care in the OSH Act were predominantly based on the employer- employee relationship. The WHS Act introduces the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) as the person with the primary duty of care. The concept of PCBU covers a broader range of workplace relationships to reflect the wide variety of workplace relationships in the modern workplace that do not readily fall into traditional concepts of employment, such as labour hire and the gig economy.
Mental health
In the WHS Act, Section 4 defines
health as meaning both physical and psychological health. Section 19 outlines that PCBU duty of care must ensure the health and safety of workers.
The Work Health and Safety Commission of WA has developed three codes of practice around hazards associated with mental health at work that further reinforce the need for employers to consider such hazards and subsequent risk in relation to their workers. The three codes are:
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Violence and aggression at work.
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Psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
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Workplace behaviour.
They can be found at the following link: bit.ly/3L9ERhD
What does this mean for OSH representatives?
If you were an elected occupational safety and health (OSH) representative under
the OSH Act, your title is now a health and safety representative (HSR) under the WHS Act. An HSR is elected by their work group under the WHS Act to represent workers in work health and safety (WHS) matters.
If your school or TAFE workplace does not have an elected HSR, it is important that you do so, to maintain a safe working environment for all.
