General duties of employers to their employees - Health & Safety

Duties of the Employer "Section 8: General duties of employers to their employees"

"Every employer, as far as is reasonably practicable, shall provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of his employees."

The rest of section 8 enhances sub-section one in that it clearly spells out what needs to be done. Therefore for this purpose the focus will be concentrated on the first part of section 8, as it is the most important part of employer compliance. 

It is clear from section 8 (1) that the first step in legal compliance is to identify the hazards, risks and dangers associated in the working environment under the control of the employer. Section 8 (1) identifies two specific duties, namely provide and maintain. This in fact refers to the management of risks at all times in the workplace. To achieve this compliance the employer must adapt risk processes that caters for an issue-based program and those results must be used to develop and implement a continuous risk program.

In terms of sections 43 and 44 the employer must establish compliance with those regulations and standards applicable on the organisation. It will be easy to comply to the stipulations of the Regulations incorporated in the OHS Act, as it is self-explanatory.  However the regulation addresses only the conditions relating to specific plant and machinery, and therefore the health and safety of employees may still be at stake. It is for this reason that the is "as far as is reasonably practicable" principle is included in section 8 (1). Some employers use this as an escape gate not to establish a comprehensive risk program and moves directly to the last defence in safety namely the provisioning of personal protective equipment. The implications of "as far as is reasonably practicable" are:

From the above it is clear that certain steps must be taken before PPE can be issued, and when it is issued there are further duties that the employer must comply with. Aspects that are not clearly demonstrated in the above diagram are engineering, substitution and administrative controls. These controls should be the first consideration before a decision is made to control risks by means of PPE. 

One of the most important aspects in the duties of the employer is to educate and train employees regarding the risks and hazards in their respective work areas, and to clearly define their scope of authority in the workplace.

Many employers use this principle ("as far as is reasonably practicable" ) to by-pass the responsibility of section 8, by arguing that it is not cost effective to initiate the risk management process. However the cost benefit is only measured against Engineering and Administrative controls. The rest of this principle is not open for negotiations to proof compliance as defined in section 37 of the Act. Therefore without comprehensive compliance to section 8 it would be almost impossible to claim compliance with any other stipulations in the OHS Act, and will the accountable person still be exposed to legislative risks.

You need a consultant that can educate and empower the employer on the content of the Act with the expressed intention to establish real compliance and to minimise legal exposures that are faced on a daily basis. This is achieved by assisting the employer on the route of integrating the OHS Act into a management system, to ensure not only legal compliance but also to have a effective loss prevention system which cater for all business resources.