1. South East Queensland Small Museums Conference
20 October 2012
Information in this presentation is from the safework Australia website and ‘The Essential Guide to
Work Health and Safety for Organisations that Engage Volunteers’.
2. WH&S – Model Laws
New work health and safety laws commenced in
NSW, Queensland, the ACT, NT and the
Commonwealth on 1 January 2012
This means that persons conducting a business or
undertaking (PCBU/organisations) and
workers, including volunteers, in these jurisdictions
are protected by same WHS laws.
3. WH&S – Model Laws
Who is a Volunteer?
Volunteers = workers
Workers and volunteers have the same duties
under the Act
A volunteer may also be an officer
5. What does that mean?
Identifying hazards, assessing and controlling risk;
Providing the right equipment and education;
Talking and consulting with your workers and
volunteers about safety matters that affect them;
Acting on ‘near misses’ and adjusting procedures so
they don’t happen again; and
Reviewing your control measures – are they still the
right ones, are they working?
6. WH&S – What changed?
Requirement for workers, including volunteers, to:
Take reasonable care of own health and safety at work
and to ensure others are not put at risk or adversely
affected by their actions;
Comply with instructions so far as they are reasonable
able; and
Cooperate with any reasonable policy and/or procedure
of the in relation to workplace health and safety
7. Don’t Panic!
If your organisation is run by volunteers, this
will be taken into account in determining what
is reasonably practicable for the organisation to
do in any given circumstance.
8. WH&S – What changed?
The definition of an Officer was widened and made
more explicit
Officers have a duty of due diligence
Officers have an obligation to report
9. Officer’s Obligations
Due Diligence - must take reasonable steps to:
Continuously learn about and keep up to date with WH&S
matters
Understand the nature of the work the organisation does and
stay aware of the risks workers and volunteers may face
Have appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or
minimise risks to health and safety
Have processes in place for communicating, considering and
responding to information about WH&S issues
Ensure the organisation has, and implements, processes for
complying with any duties and requirements under WHS law.
10. Officer’s Obligations
A volunteer officer cannot be prosecuted for failing
to comply with their officer duties under the WHS Act.
A volunteer officer can be prosecuted in their
capacity as a worker if they do not take reasonable care
as a worker.
Officers who are not volunteers can be prosecuted
for failing to comply with due diligence duties under
the WHS Act.
11. What does this all mean?
Have a plan
Walk
Talk
Follow instructions
Keep a central record
Under WHS law a volunteer is a person who works for an organisation without payment or financial reward (they may receive out of pocket expenses). This means that your organisation must treat its volunteers as it does to its paid workers.
you do need to do all that is reasonable to ensure everyone's health and safety.
Officers include senior managers and individuals that make, or participate in making, decisions that affect the whole or a substantial part of your organisation, they may be paid or volunteer workersOfficers have an Obligation to report any dangerous incident and/or serious injury or illness to the regulator and to secure the scene for investigation
This immunity for volunteer officers is designed to ensure that voluntary participation at the officer level is not discouraged.
Walk around your workplace and look for hazardsMost likely to be trip an fall Manual handlingKitchen, electrical, chemical and storage relatedTalk with your workforce and volunteers about safe work practices and encourage their feedback and suggestionsRemember you have an obligation to follow reasonable instructions and polices and not to create an unsafe environment for othersInclude WH&S in induction and performance reviews