WHS duties

Duty to manage WHS risks 

You must manage WHS risks if you are: 

  • a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) 
  • a designer, manufacturer, importer, supplier or installer of plant, substance, or structure 
  • an officer, such as a company director. 

If you are a PCBU you must eliminate risks in the workplace. If that is not possible, you must minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable. You must also consult your workers and health and safety representatives (HSRs) if you have them, about health and safety issues that may directly affect them.

Workers and others at the workplace also have WHS duties. For example, they have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety at the workplace. 

A person can have more than one WHS duty.  More than one person can have the same WHS duty at the same time. 

Find out more in Chapter 1.1 of the model Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks.

Supporting information