Work Health and Safety Act 2011

The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) is the model law at the centre of Australia’s harmonised workplace health and safety system. It has been adopted — as each jurisdiction’s own legislation — by the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia. Victoria is the main exception and operates under its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, which is similar in intent but differs in detail.

This page explains how SteadyOn’s modules map to your key duties under the WHS Act. It is not legal advice — for specific legal questions, consult a qualified health and safety advisor or lawyer.

Who the WHS Act applies to

The WHS Act applies to everyone who works — employees, contractors, subcontractors, labour-hire workers, apprentices, work experience students, and volunteers. The central concept is the PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking). If you run a business, you are likely a PCBU, and you have the primary duty of care.

The primary duty of care

A PCBU must ensure the health and safety of workers, so far as is reasonably practicable. This includes:

Providing and maintaining a work environment that is without risks to health and safety
Providing and maintaining safe plant and structures
Providing and maintaining safe systems of work
Ensuring the safe use, handling, and storage of plant, structures, and substances
Providing adequate facilities for the welfare of workers
Providing information, training, instruction, or supervision that is reasonably necessary
Monitoring the health of workers and the conditions at the workplace

How SteadyOn helps: The Hazard Register, Corrective Actions, and Inspections modules help you identify risks, implement controls, and document that your workplace is actively managed.

Relevant WHS Act sections: Part 2, Division 2 (Primary duty of care)

Hazard and risk management

The WHS Act requires you to identify hazards, assess the risks they create, and implement controls to eliminate or minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

SteadyOn’s Hazard Register provides:

A documented record of all identified hazards
Risk assessments using a likelihood × consequence matrix
Control measures linked to each hazard
Review dates to ensure hazards are reassessed regularly
BRAG status to flag overdue reviews

Relevant WHS Act sections: Part 2, Division 2 (the duty); the detailed risk management process sits in the WHS Regulations

Consultation

The WHS Act requires PCBUs to consult with workers on health and safety matters that affect them, and to consult, cooperate, and coordinate with other duty holders who share responsibility for the same matter.

SteadyOn’s role: While SteadyOn does not run formal consultation arrangements (like health and safety committee meetings), it supports consultation by:

Giving all team members the ability to report hazards and incidents
Providing the public incident reporting link for workers without SteadyOn accounts
Making the hazard register visible to all team members so workers can see identified risks

See Consultation, representation and participation for the full picture.

Incident notification

For certain serious events — notifiable incidents — you must notify your WHS regulator immediately. Under the model WHS Act these are:

The death of a person
A serious injury or illness (defined in the Act — includes amputation, serious head or eye injury, serious burns, spinal injury, loss of bodily function, and injuries requiring immediate hospital treatment)
A dangerous incident (an uncontrolled escape of substance, fire or explosion, collapse, electric shock, and similar events that expose people to serious risk)

You must report to your state or territory WHS regulator — there is no single national body. Which regulator depends on where you operate, for example:

SafeWork NSW (New South Wales)
WorkSafe Victoria (Victoria, under the OHS Act)
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (Queensland)
SafeWork SA, WorkSafe WA, WorkSafe Tasmania, WorkSafe ACT, NT WorkSafe, and Comcare (for Commonwealth employers)

SteadyOn’s Incident Register flags notifiable incidents and displays a reminder that your regulator must be notified. The record serves as your evidence that you identified and responded to the event. You must also preserve the incident site until an inspector arrives or the regulator directs otherwise.

Important: SteadyOn records incidents but does not notify your regulator on your behalf. You must contact the relevant state or territory WHS regulator directly.

Relevant WHS Act sections: Part 3 (Incident notification)

Records and documentation

While the WHS Act does not always require specific records to be kept, having documented records is essential for:

Demonstrating compliance in an audit or investigation
Understanding patterns and trends in safety performance
Supporting workers’ compensation claims and return-to-work plans
Proving due diligence in the event of prosecution

SteadyOn’s Audit Log provides a tamper-evident record of every change made in the system — who created or modified each record, and when. This supports your ability to demonstrate that your safety management system was being actively used.

Due diligence for officers

Under the WHS Act, officers (directors, board members, and others who make or participate in decisions affecting a substantial part of the business) have a personal duty to exercise due diligence to ensure their PCBU meets its health and safety duties. This includes:

Keeping up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters
Understanding the organisation’s operations and the hazards and risks associated with them
Ensuring the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks
Ensuring the PCBU has processes for receiving and considering information about incidents, hazards, and risks, and responds in a timely way

SteadyOn’s Dashboard and Reports are designed specifically for this purpose — giving officers visibility over the organisation’s safety status without requiring them to manage day-to-day records.

Relevant WHS Act sections: Section 27 (Duty of officers)

SteadyOn is a tool, not a compliance guarantee

SteadyOn helps you build and maintain a health and safety management system. Using SteadyOn does not automatically mean you are compliant with the WHS Act. Compliance depends on:

Actually identifying your real hazards (not just filling in records)
Implementing genuine controls (not just writing them down)
Consulting your workers
Following through on corrective actions
Reviewing and improving over time

SteadyOn makes these activities easier to track and manage. The substance of your safety programme is still yours to create.