Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)

The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) is Queensland's main work health and safety law. Its object is not framed narrowly. Section 3 says the main object is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces.

The Act says this is done in several ways. It protects workers and other persons against harm to their health, safety and welfare through the elimination or minimisation of risks arising from work or from particular types of substances or plant. It also provides for fair and effective workplace representation, consultation, cooperation and issue resolution in relation to work health and safety. It encourages unions and employer organisations to take a constructive role in promoting improvements in work health and safety practices and in assisting PCBUs and workers to achieve a healthier and safer working environment.

The object section also refers to promoting advice, information, education and training, securing compliance through effective and appropriate compliance and enforcement measures, ensuring appropriate scrutiny and review of actions by persons exercising powers and performing functions under the Act, providing a framework for continuous improvement and progressively higher standards of work health and safety, and maintaining and strengthening national harmonisation.

For businesses, that object matters because it shows the Act is not only about punishment after an incident. It is built around prevention, consultation, compliance and ongoing improvement. The Act also says that, in furthering the protective object, regard must be had to the principle that workers and other persons should be given the highest level of protection against harm from work-related hazards and risks that is reasonably practicable. That principle helps explain the overall direction of the legislation when you are reading the duties that follow.

The Act is broad in who it covers. A central concept is the person conducting a business or undertaking, commonly called a PCBU. A person conducts a business or undertaking whether they do so alone or with others, and whether or not it is conducted for profit or gain. A business or undertaking conducted by a partnership or an unincorporated association is also included.

The Act also deals specifically with partnerships. If a business or undertaking is conducted by a partnership, other than an incorporated partnership, a reference to a person conducting the business or undertaking is read as a reference to each partner in the partnership.

There are important limits. A person does not conduct a business or undertaking to the extent they are engaged solely as a worker in, or as an officer of, that business or undertaking. An elected member of a local government does not in that capacity conduct a business or undertaking. A regulation may also specify circumstances in which a person may be taken not to be a PCBU for the purposes of the Act or a provision of it. A volunteer association does not conduct a business or undertaking for the purposes of the Act. The Act defines a volunteer association as a group of volunteers working together for one or more community purposes where none of the volunteers, whether alone or jointly with any other volunteers, employs any person to carry out work for the association.

The Act defines worker broadly. A worker is a person who carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU. That includes an employee, contractor, subcontractor, employee of a contractor or subcontractor, employee of a labour hire company assigned to work in the person's business or undertaking, outworker, apprentice, trainee, student gaining work experience, volunteer, or a person of a prescribed class. The individual PCBU is also a worker if that person carries out work in the business or undertaking. The Act also states that a police officer is a worker and is at work throughout the time the officer is on duty or lawfully performing the functions of a police officer, but not otherwise.

The definition of workplace is also wider than many businesses expect. A workplace is a place where work is carried out for a business or undertaking and includes any place where a worker goes, or is likely to be, while at work. A place includes a vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other mobile structure, and also waters and installations on land, on the bed of waters or floating on waters. That means the Act is not confined to a fixed office, shop or factory. It can extend to mobile work and places workers attend in the course of work.

The Act also binds all persons, including the State and, so far as legislative power permits, the Commonwealth and the other States. The State, the Commonwealth and the other States are liable for offences against the Act, and for contraventions of a WHS civil penalty provision.

Before setting out specific duties, the Act states several principles that apply to duties under the legislation. Section 13 says these principles apply to all duties that persons have under the Act. The note to that section says the principles apply to duties under part 2 and other parts of the Act, including duties relating to incident notification and consultation.

First, duties are not transferable. Section 14 says a duty cannot be transferred to another person. For businesses, that means a contract, outsourcing arrangement or service agreement may allocate tasks between parties, but it does not transfer the statutory duty itself.

Second, a person may have more than one duty. Section 15 says a person can have more than one duty by virtue of being in more than one class of duty holder. The Act is designed to recognise that people and entities can occupy overlapping roles.

Third, more than one person can have the same duty at the same time. Section 16 says more than one person can concurrently have the same duty, and each duty holder must comply with that duty to the standard required by the Act even if another duty holder has the same duty. If more than one person has a duty for the same matter, each person retains responsibility for that person's duty in relation to the matter and must discharge the duty to the extent to which the person has the capacity to influence and control the matter, or would have had that capacity but for an agreement or arrangement purporting to limit or remove that capacity.

For businesses, this is a key reading point. Shared sites, contractor arrangements, labour hire, property management and supply arrangements often involve overlapping responsibility. The Act does not let one party step back simply because another party is also involved. The practical question is what influence and control each person has over the matter.

Section 17 states the basic risk management rule in the Act. If a person has a duty to ensure health and safety, that duty requires the person to eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risks, the person must minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable.

Section 18 then explains what reasonably practicable means. It is what is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety. The Act says this requires taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including the likelihood of the hazard or risk occurring, the degree of harm that might result, what the person knows or ought reasonably know about the hazard or risk and ways of eliminating or minimising it, the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk, and then, after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising it, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

For a business owner, that means the Act does not use a one-size-fits-all rule. The standard depends on the actual risk, what is known or should be known, what controls are available and suitable, and whether cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk. The structure of the section is important. The starting point is elimination if reasonably practicable. If elimination is not reasonably practicable, the duty becomes minimisation so far as is reasonably practicable. Cost is considered only after the risk and available controls are assessed in the way the Act describes.

The primary duty of care in section 19 sits at the centre of the Act. A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers engaged, or caused to be engaged, by the person, and workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the person, while those workers are at work in the business or undertaking.

The duty also extends beyond workers. A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of other persons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking. That means the Act is not only about the internal workforce. It also reaches other people who may be affected by the work.

The Act then gives a non-exhaustive list of what this duty includes. Without limiting the primary duty, the PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the provision and maintenance of a work environment without risks to health and safety, the provision and maintenance of safe plant and structures, the provision and maintenance of safe systems of work, the safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures and substances, the provision of adequate facilities for the welfare at work of workers including ensuring access to those facilities, the provision of any information, training, instruction or supervision necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking, and monitoring of worker health and workplace conditions for the purpose of preventing illness or injury arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking.

Section 19 also deals with worker accommodation in a specific situation. If a worker occupies accommodation owned by, or under the management or control of, the PCBU, and the occupancy is necessary for the purposes of the worker's engagement because other accommodation is not reasonably available, the PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, maintain the premises so that the worker occupying the premises is not exposed to risks to health and safety.

The section also states that a self-employed person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, his or her own health and safety while at work. The note to the section says a self-employed person is also a PCBU for the purposes of the section.

The Act contains further duties for PCBUs whose business or undertaking involves management or control of a workplace. Section 20 defines a person with management or control of a workplace as a PCBU to the extent the business or undertaking involves management or control, in whole or in part, of the workplace. The section excludes the occupier of a residence unless the residence is occupied for the purposes of, or as part of, the conduct of a business or undertaking, and also excludes a prescribed person.

That person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, the means of entering and exiting the workplace, and anything arising from the workplace are without risks to the health and safety of any person.

Section 21 creates a parallel duty for a person with management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at a workplace. Again, the concept applies to the extent the business or undertaking involves management or control, in whole or in part. That person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the fixtures, fittings and plant are without risks to the health and safety of any person. The same residence and prescribed person exclusions appear in this section.

Section 22 then deals with designers. It applies to a person who conducts a business or undertaking that designs plant to be used, or reasonably expected to be used, as or at a workplace, a substance to be used, or reasonably expected to be used, at a workplace, or a structure to be used, or reasonably expected to be used, as or at a workplace. The designer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the plant, substance or structure is designed to be without risks to the health and safety of the persons described in the section. The available text shows the section but is truncated before the full list of all persons covered by it, so this page does not attempt a complete breakdown of every paragraph in section 22.

The available text also shows the duty for a person who conducts a business or undertaking that installs, constructs or commissions plant or a structure to be used, or reasonably expected to be used, as or at a workplace. That person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the way in which the plant or structure is installed, constructed or commissioned ensures that it is without risks to the health and safety of persons who install or construct it, use it for its intended purpose, carry out reasonably foreseeable activities in relation to proper use, decommissioning, dismantling, demolition or disposal, or are at or in the vicinity of a workplace and may be affected.

These provisions matter where responsibility is split. A business may control only part of a workplace, only certain access points, only certain plant, or only the design or installation stage of a product or structure. The Act still attaches duties to that extent of management, control or involvement.

The extract includes section 26A on codes of practice. It says that if the Minister approves a code of practice for the purposes of the Act, a PCBU must either comply with the code or manage hazards and risks arising from the work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking in a different way that provides a standard of health and safety equivalent to or higher than the standard required under the code.

For businesses, that means an approved code of practice can be directly relevant to compliance. The Act does not say a PCBU may simply ignore an approved code. If a business chooses a different method, the alternative must provide an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety.

Section 27 imposes a separate duty on officers. If a PCBU has a duty or obligation under the Act, an officer of the PCBU must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with that duty or obligation. The Act also says an officer may be convicted or found guilty of an offence relating to that duty whether or not the PCBU has been convicted or found guilty of an offence relating to the duty or obligation.

The Act says due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters, gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations, ensure the PCBU has available for use and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking, ensure the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information, ensure the PCBU has and implements processes for complying with duties or obligations under the Act, and verify the provision and use of those resources and processes.

The Act gives examples of what those compliance processes may include. The examples listed are reporting notifiable incidents, consulting with workers, ensuring compliance with notices issued under the Act, ensuring the provision of training and instruction to workers about work health and safety, and ensuring that health and safety representatives receive their entitlements to training.

Workers also have duties. While at work, a worker must take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety, take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons, comply so far as the worker is reasonably able with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU to allow the PCBU to comply with the Act, and cooperate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the PCBU relating to health or safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers.

Other persons at the workplace also have duties, whether or not they have another duty under part 2. They must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons, and comply so far as they are reasonably able with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU to allow the PCBU to comply with the Act.

The Act creates offence categories for failures to comply with health and safety duties. Section 30 says a health and safety duty means a duty imposed under division 2, 3 or 4 of part 2.

Section 31 creates a category 1 offence. A person commits a category 1 offence if the person has a health and safety duty, without reasonable excuse engages in conduct that exposes an individual to whom that duty is owed to a risk of death or serious injury or illness, and the person engages in the conduct with negligence or is reckless as to the risk. The section sets different maximum penalties depending on whether the offender is an individual, an individual acting as a PCBU or officer, or a body corporate. It also states that a category 1 offence is a crime.

Section 32 creates a category 2 offence where a person has a health and safety duty, fails to comply with that duty, and the failure exposes an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness. Section 33 creates a category 3 offence where a person has a health and safety duty and fails to comply with that duty. The Act sets different maximum penalties for individuals, individuals acting as PCBUs or officers, and bodies corporate.

Section 34 contains exceptions. A volunteer does not commit an offence under division 5 for a failure to comply with a health and safety duty, except a duty under section 28 or 29. An unincorporated association does not commit an offence under the Act, and is not liable for a civil penalty under the Act, for a failure to comply with a duty or obligation imposed on the unincorporated association under the Act. However, an officer of an unincorporated association, other than a volunteer, may be liable for a failure to comply with a duty under section 27, and a member of an unincorporated association may be liable for failure to comply with a duty under section 28 or 29.

The extract also includes part 2A on industrial manslaughter. It shows section 34C, which creates an industrial manslaughter offence for a PCBU if an individual to whom the person has a health and safety duty dies, or is injured and later dies, the person's conduct causes the death, and the person is negligent about causing the death by the conduct. The maximum penalty shown is 20 years imprisonment for an individual and 100,000 penalty units for a body corporate. The available text is truncated after section 34C and into section 34D, so this page does not attempt a full explanation of the whole industrial manslaughter part.

The current consolidation used for this page is stated to be current as at 29 March 2026. The commencement section also shows that some provisions commenced on 1 January 2014, some commenced immediately after the commencement of sections 391 and 401, and the remaining provisions commenced on a day to be fixed by proclamation. Businesses should still check for later amendments, related regulations and any approved codes of practice before relying on this page for a live compliance question.

The safest way to read this Act is to start with role, scope and control. Ask first whether your business is a PCBU, who counts as a worker, where your workplaces are for the purposes of the Act, and whether your business manages or controls any workplace, access point, fixture, fitting or plant. Then identify whether your business designs, installs, constructs or commissions anything to be used as or at a workplace.

Next, identify where duties overlap. The Act expressly says duties are not transferable and can be concurrent. If another business, contractor, landlord, principal or supplier is involved, that does not automatically remove your duty. The question is the extent to which your business has the capacity to influence and control the matter.

Then apply the Act's risk framework. The duty is to eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable, or if that is not reasonably practicable, minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable. The Act itself sets out the factors to weigh up. Businesses should use those statutory factors rather than relying on assumptions about what is convenient or customary.

After that, check the specific duty that matches your role. A PCBU has the primary duty of care. A person with management or control of a workplace has duties tied to the workplace, entry and exit, and anything arising from the workplace. A person with management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant has duties tied to those things. Designers and those who install, construct or commission plant or structures also have their own duties.

Finally, check whether there is an approved code of practice relevant to the work. If there is, the Act says the PCBU must comply with the code or use a different approach that provides an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety. Because the available text does not include every later provision of the Act, businesses should also check the current legislation and any applicable regulations before relying on this page for detailed procedural requirements.