Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) creates the main legislative framework for workplace health and safety in Victoria. Its objects include securing the health, safety and welfare of employees and other persons at work, eliminating risks at the source, ensuring that members of the public are not placed at risk by the conduct of undertakings by employers and self-employed persons, and involving employees, employers and their representative organisations in the formulation and implementation of health and safety standards.

The Act is framed by health and safety protection principles in section 4. Those principles say that employees, other persons at work and members of the public should be given the highest level of protection against risks to health and safety that is reasonably practicable in the circumstances. They also say that persons who control or manage matters that give rise, or may give rise, to risks are responsible for eliminating or reducing those risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Employers and self-employed persons are expected to be proactive, and employers and employees should exchange information and ideas about risks and control measures. Employees are also entitled, and should be encouraged, to be represented in relation to health and safety issues.

For a business owner, that means the Act is not just about what happens after an injury. It is about how work is organised before anything goes wrong. The law reaches decisions about plant, systems of work, storage, transport, access, welfare facilities, training, supervision, monitoring, consultation and incident handling. The definition of health in section 5 includes psychological health, so the Act is not confined to physical injury alone.

The Act names several different duty holders. That matters because Victorian workplace safety obligations do not sit only with a direct employer. The categories identified in the Act include employers, self-employed persons, employees, persons who manage or control workplaces, designers of plant, designers of buildings or structures, manufacturers of plant or substances, suppliers of plant or substances, and persons installing, erecting or commissioning plant.

Employers are a central duty holder, but the Act goes further than a narrow payroll relationship. Section 21(3) says that, for the purposes of the employer duty to employees, a reference to an employee includes an independent contractor engaged by the employer and any employees of that contractor. The employer's duties extend to those people in relation to matters over which the employer has control, or would have control if not for an agreement purporting to limit or remove that control. In practical terms, a business cannot assume its safety responsibilities disappear just because work is done through a contractor arrangement.

The Act also includes an extended definition of employer and employee for labour hire in section 5A, and Part 4 contains a separate duty to consult with other employers in relation to duties relating to labour hire. If your business supplies labour, hosts labour hire workers, or shares responsibility for work arrangements with another employer, those provisions should be checked directly.

Another important category is the person who has, to any extent, the management or control of a workplace. Section 26 applies whether the person is an owner or otherwise. The duty covers the workplace and the means of entering and leaving it, but only in relation to matters over which that person has management or control. This can be significant in shared premises, tenancies, multi-party sites and other arrangements where control is split.

Employees are also in scope. While at work, employees must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and for the health and safety of persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions at a workplace. They must cooperate with their employer in relation to action taken to comply with the Act or regulations, and they must not intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided at the workplace in the interests of health, safety or welfare.

The Act's core practical standard is to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. Section 20 explains that this means eliminating risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable and, if elimination is not reasonably practicable, reducing those risks so far as is reasonably practicable. The Act then lists the matters that must be considered in deciding what is reasonably practicable. They include the likelihood of the hazard or risk eventuating, the degree of harm if it does, what the person knows or ought reasonably know about the hazard or risk and ways of eliminating or reducing it, the availability and suitability of those ways, and the cost of eliminating or reducing the hazard or risk.

For employers, section 21 requires a working environment that is safe and without risks to health so far as is reasonably practicable. The section then gives concrete examples of what that includes. Employers must provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are safe and without risks to health so far as is reasonably practicable. They must make arrangements for ensuring safety and the absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage or transport of plant or substances. They must maintain each workplace under their management and control in a condition that is safe and without risks to health, provide adequate welfare facilities for employees at workplaces under their management and control, and provide the information, instruction, training or supervision necessary to enable employees to perform work safely and without risks to health.

Section 22 adds further employer duties. So far as is reasonably practicable, employers must monitor the health of employees, monitor conditions at workplaces under their management and control, and provide information to employees concerning health and safety at the workplace, including the names of persons to whom an employee may make an enquiry or complaint about health and safety. The Act also requires employers, so far as is reasonably practicable, to keep information and records relating to employee health and safety and to employ or engage suitably qualified persons to provide occupational health and safety advice.

Section 23 extends the employer's reach beyond employees. Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons other than employees are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the employer's undertaking. Section 24 imposes a similar duty on self-employed persons in relation to persons exposed to risks arising from the conduct of the self-employed person's undertaking.

Section 26 is especially important for premises and shared-site arrangements. A person who has, to any extent, the management or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace and the means of entering and leaving it are safe and without risks to health. Because the duty applies only to matters over which that person has management or control, businesses should map control carefully where multiple parties are involved.

The Act also imposes design and supply chain duties. Section 27 requires designers of plant used at workplaces to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the plant is designed to be safe and without risks to health for its designed purpose, to carry out or arrange necessary testing and examination, and to provide adequate information about the plant's purpose, testing and any conditions necessary for safe use. Section 28 requires designers of buildings or structures intended to be used as workplaces to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that they are designed to be safe and without risks to the health of persons using them as workplaces for their designed purpose. The Act also contains separate duties for manufacturers, suppliers and persons installing, erecting or commissioning plant.

In practice, trigger points for reviewing compliance under the Act usually arise when work, plant, substances, premises, access arrangements, welfare arrangements, supervision or staffing change. The Act itself does not present these as a business checklist, but its duties are clearly engaged when a business introduces new plant, changes systems of work, alters storage or transport arrangements, changes who controls a workplace, or makes decisions that affect employee welfare, training, monitoring or safety procedures.

Consultation is a specific statutory duty under this Act. Section 35 requires an employer, so far as is reasonably practicable, to consult with employees of the employer who are or are likely to be directly affected when the employer is doing certain things. The extract shows that this includes identifying or assessing hazards or risks to health or safety at a workplace under the employer's management and control or arising from the conduct of the employer's undertaking, making decisions about measures to control those risks, making decisions about the adequacy of welfare facilities, and making decisions about procedures for resolving health or safety issues, consulting with employees, monitoring employee health and workplace conditions, and providing information and training to employees.

This is a practical duty, not just a general statement of good practice. If a business is changing a process, introducing plant, altering a layout, reviewing welfare facilities, or setting procedures for issue resolution, monitoring or training, it should ask whether employees are directly affected and whether consultation is required. The health and safety protection principles in section 4 reinforce that employers and employees should exchange information and ideas about risks and measures to eliminate or reduce them.

The Act also contains a separate labour hire consultation provision in section 35A. Businesses involved in labour hire should not assume that ordinary consultation steps are the whole picture. If labour hire is part of the operating model, the labour hire-specific consultation provision should be checked directly alongside the general consultation duty.

Part 7 goes further by creating formal employee representation mechanisms. It provides for designated work groups, including designated work groups of multiple employers. It provides for the election, term and disqualification of health and safety representatives and deputy representatives. It also sets out powers of health and safety representatives, including provisional improvement notices, and related procedures. The Act imposes obligations on employers to train health and safety representatives, share costs in some multiple-employer situations, meet other obligations to representatives, and keep a list of health and safety representatives. Section 72 deals with health and safety committees.

Part 7 also covers resolution of health and safety issues, directions to cease work, inspector attendance, and protections against discrimination and discriminatory conduct affecting employees or prospective employees. For businesses, the practical point is that consultation under the Act can involve both direct consultation with affected employees and formal representative structures. If your workplace has designated work groups, health and safety representatives or a health and safety committee, your consultation process needs to fit that structure.

Part 5 deals with duties relating to incidents, but its scope needs to be read carefully. The Act identifies section 37 as dealing with incidents to which Part 5 applies, section 38 as the duty to notify incidents, and section 39 as the duty to preserve incident sites. That means businesses should not assume every workplace event triggers the same legal response. After an incident, the first legal check is whether the incident is one to which Part 5 applies.

Because incident notification and site preservation can be time-sensitive, businesses should have a clear internal process for escalation and decision-making. But they should also verify the current statutory wording and regulator guidance before relying on a generic incident procedure. This is especially important where there is uncertainty about whether an incident falls within Part 5, whether notification is required, or whether a site can be disturbed.

The Act gives inspectors substantial enforcement powers. Part 9 covers appointment of inspectors, entry powers, powers to require production of documents and answers to questions, powers to take samples, search warrants, and powers to issue non-disturbance notices, improvement notices and prohibition notices. It also creates offences in relation to inspections. Businesses should therefore expect that safety compliance is not just a paper obligation. The Act supports active investigation and enforcement.

Part 10 and Part 11 deal with reviewable decisions, legal proceedings, sentencing orders, infringement notices and offences by bodies corporate. The Act contains officer liability provisions for bodies corporate in section 144, and related provisions for partnerships and unincorporated bodies or associations. The careful point for businesses is that the Act clearly contains officer liability provisions, but the exact operation of those provisions should be checked directly in the current text before drawing conclusions about personal exposure in a particular case.

The Act also includes Part 5A on workplace manslaughter, Part 12 on compliance codes, and section 150 on the effect of compliance codes. Compliance codes can be important practical material, but the starting point remains the Act and any applicable regulations.

A sensible way to use this legislation is to run a structured check across your operations. Identify the duty holder categories that apply, map who controls each workplace and task, review whether your plant, systems of work, storage, transport, welfare, training and supervision arrangements match the Act's duties, confirm your consultation arrangements, and make sure your incident response process includes a check of sections 37 to 39 and current WorkSafe guidance. If your business uses contractors, labour hire or shared premises, do not rely on assumptions about who is responsible. The Act repeatedly turns on management, control and the conduct of the undertaking.

The commencement section gives useful date points for reading the Act. Under section 3(1), the Act came into operation on 1 July 2005, subject to specific exceptions. Section 28, which deals with duties of designers of buildings or structures, came into operation on 1 July 2006 under section 3(2). Part 4, which deals with the duty of employers to consult, was to commence on a proclaimed day, but if not before then, on 1 January 2006 under section 3(4).

The authorised version used for this page incorporates amendments as at 6 August 2025. That is useful for confirming that the Act has been updated through that date, but businesses should still check whether there have been later amendments, related regulations, or current regulator guidance that affect the practical steps they need to take.

Before relying on this page for operational decisions, a business should check at least four things. First, which duty holder category applies in the situation. Second, what matters the business actually manages or controls. Third, whether consultation duties are triggered for employees who are or are likely to be directly affected. Fourth, whether any incident falls within Part 5 before making decisions about notification or disturbing a site. Those checks are especially important in contractor, labour hire and shared-site arrangements, where responsibilities can overlap.