Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)

The Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) is a Western Australian Act. The public legislation page identifies it as Act No. 036 of 2020, with assent on 10 November 2020. The current consolidated version shown on the legislation site is marked Current, with a currency start of 28 May 2026.

The Act states a staged commencement structure. Section 2 provides that some parts commenced on assent, Part 14 other than Divisions 1 to 3 commenced on the day after assent day, and the rest of the Act commenced on a day fixed by proclamation. The text available here confirms that structure, but it does not identify the proclamation date itself. That means businesses should not assume every operative duty started on the assent date.

The Act's main object is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces. It does this by protecting workers and other persons from harm through elimination or minimisation of risks arising from work, supporting representation and consultation, promoting advice and training, securing compliance through enforcement, and maintaining national harmonisation.

The Act is built around the concept of a person conducting a business or undertaking, usually 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. This is broader than a simple employer concept and is one reason the Act reaches many business structures, not for profits and operational arrangements.

The Act also says a business or undertaking conducted by a person includes one conducted by a partnership or an unincorporated association. If the business or undertaking is conducted by a partnership, other than an incorporated partnership, a reference to the person conducting the business or undertaking is read as a reference to each partner.

There are important limits and carve outs. An individual does not conduct a business or undertaking to the extent the individual is engaged solely as a worker in, or as an officer of, that business or undertaking. A local government member does not conduct a business or undertaking. A volunteer association does not conduct a business or undertaking for the purposes of the Act. A strata company responsible for common areas used only for residential purposes may be taken not to be a PCBU in relation to those premises, but not if it engages any worker as an employee.

The definition of worker is also broad. It includes employees, contractors, subcontractors, employees of contractors or subcontractors, labour hire workers assigned into the business, outworkers, apprentices, trainees, students gaining work experience, volunteers and prescribed classes. If the PCBU is an individual who carries out work in the business or undertaking, that individual is also a worker.

The definition of workplace is 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. Place includes a vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other mobile structure, and also waters and installations on or over waters. So the Act can apply well beyond a fixed office or shopfront.

Part 2 of the Act sets out the health and safety duties framework. The starting point is that duties are personal and ongoing. Section 14 says a duty cannot be transferred to another person. In practice, that means a business cannot sign a contract and assume its WHS responsibility has disappeared.

Section 15 says a person can have more than one duty because they may fall into more than one class of duty holder. Section 16 says more than one person can concurrently have the same duty. Each duty holder must comply with the 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 and must discharge the duty to the extent of that person's capacity to influence and control the matter, or would have had that capacity but for an agreement or arrangement purporting to limit or remove it.

Section 17 sets the risk management standard. A duty to ensure health and safety requires the person to eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. If elimination is not reasonably practicable, the person must minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

Section 18 explains what reasonably practicable means. It is what is or was reasonably able to be done at the time, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters. The Act lists the likelihood of the hazard or risk occurring, the degree of harm that might result, what the person knows or ought reasonably to know about the hazard or risk and ways of eliminating or minimising it, the availability and suitability of those ways, and then the cost of available controls including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.

Section 19 contains the primary duty of care. 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 they are at work in the business or undertaking. A PCBU must also 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.

The text available here also confirms examples of what that primary duty includes. A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the provision and maintenance of a work environment without risks to health and safety, safe plant and structures, safe systems of work, safe use handling and storage of plant structures and substances, adequate welfare facilities and access to them, necessary information training instruction or supervision, and monitoring of worker health and workplace conditions to prevent illness or injury. The section also states that health includes physical and psychological health.

Section 19 further provides that if a worker occupies accommodation owned by or under the management or control of the PCBU, and that occupancy is necessary because other accommodation is not reasonably available, the PCBU must maintain the premises so the worker is not exposed to risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. It also says a self-employed person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the person's own health and safety while at work.

The Act does not stop at the primary duty of care. The text available here confirms further duties for PCBUs whose business or undertaking involves management or control of workplaces, and for PCBUs whose business or undertaking involves management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at workplaces.

Under section 20, a person with management or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, the means of entering and exiting it, and anything arising from the workplace are without risks to the health and safety of any person. The definition 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.

Under section 21, a person with management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that those fixtures, fittings and plant are without risks to the health and safety of any person. Again, the occupier of a residence is excluded unless the residence is used for the business or undertaking, and prescribed persons may also be excluded.

For businesses, these provisions matter in common commercial arrangements. A tenant may control staff movement and customer areas. A landlord or facilities manager may control common areas, building systems or access routes. A principal contractor may control site entry and traffic management. A service provider may control particular plant or equipment. The Act's concurrent duty model means each party should identify what it controls and what it can influence, then act on that responsibility rather than assuming another party has it covered.

The available text also shows that the Act contains duties for PCBUs that design plant, substances or structures, but the full detail of those provisions is not fully visible here. For that reason, businesses involved in design, manufacture, import or supply should check the current Act and any regulations directly before relying on a summary.

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 makes clear that an officer can be convicted or found guilty of an offence relating to this duty whether or not the PCBU itself has been convicted or found guilty.

The Act gives practical content to due diligence. It includes taking reasonable steps to acquire and keep up to date knowledge of work health and safety matters, to understand the nature of the operations and the hazards and risks associated with them, to ensure the PCBU has and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks, to ensure there are processes for receiving and considering information about incidents hazards and risks and responding in a timely way, to ensure there are and are implemented processes for complying with duties and obligations under the Act, and to verify the provision and use of those resources and processes.

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

Section 28 sets out worker duties. While at work, a worker must take reasonable care for the worker's own health and safety, take reasonable care that the worker's acts or omissions do not adversely affect others, comply so far as reasonably able with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU to allow compliance with the Act, and cooperate with any reasonable health or safety policy or procedure that has been notified to workers.

Section 29 applies to other persons at the workplace, 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 others, and comply so far as reasonably able with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU to allow the PCBU to comply with the Act.

For business owners, these provisions mean WHS is not only a frontline issue. It needs governance, reporting, resourcing and verification from the top, and it also needs workers and visitors to follow reasonable instructions and procedures on the ground.

The available text confirms Part 3 of the Act deals with incident notification. A notifiable incident means the death of a person, a serious injury or illness of a person, or a dangerous incident.

The Act defines serious injury or illness in detail. It includes an injury or illness requiring immediate treatment as an in-patient in a hospital, immediate treatment for matters such as amputation, serious head injury, serious eye injury, serious burn, separation of skin from underlying tissue, spinal injury, loss of a bodily function or serious lacerations, treatment by a medical practitioner within 48 hours of exposure to a substance, urgent transfer from a remote location to a medical facility for treatment, or an injury or illness that in a medical practitioner's opinion is likely to prevent the person from doing normal work for at least 10 days after the day it occurs. The definition can also be expanded or limited by regulations.

The Act also defines dangerous incident. It includes incidents exposing a worker or another person to a serious risk to health or safety from immediate or imminent exposure to events such as uncontrolled escape spillage or leakage of a substance, uncontrolled implosion explosion or fire, uncontrolled escape of gas or steam, uncontrolled escape of a pressurised substance, electric shock, the fall or release from a height of plant substance or a thing, collapse overturning failure malfunction or damage of certain plant, collapse or partial collapse of a structure, collapse or failure of an excavation or shoring, inrush of water mud or gas in underground workings, interruption of the main ventilation system in an underground excavation or tunnel, and other prescribed events.

Section 38 requires a PCBU to ensure the regulator is notified immediately after becoming aware that a notifiable incident arising out of the conduct of the business or undertaking has occurred. The notice must be given by the fastest possible means, by telephone or in writing. If notice is first given by telephone, the caller must provide the details requested by the regulator and, if required, provide a written notice within 48 hours. A written notice must be in a form, or contain details, approved by the regulator.

The Act also requires the PCBU to keep a record of each notifiable incident for at least 5 years from the day notice is given. For businesses, this means incident response should not stop at immediate care. You need a process for escalation, regulator notification where required, and record retention.

The available text confirms that Part 2 Division 5 contains offences and penalties, including industrial manslaughter and Category 1 offences. The text visible here states that industrial manslaughter can apply where a PCBU has a health and safety duty, engages in conduct causing death, the conduct is a failure to comply with that duty, and the conduct is engaged in knowing it is likely to cause death or serious harm and in disregard of that likelihood. The visible text also includes penalties for industrial manslaughter and Category 1 offences.

Because offences and penalties are high risk areas and the later provisions are only partly visible in the material used here, businesses should not rely on this page as a complete penalties guide. The safer approach is to use this page to understand the structure of the Act, then check the current legislation and any regulator material for the exact offence elements, penalty settings and procedural requirements that apply to your situation.

In practical terms, a business should check at least five things before relying on any WHS summary. First, confirm whether you are a PCBU and who your workers are under the Act's broad definitions. Second, identify every place that may be a workplace, including vehicles and customer sites. Third, map overlapping control and concurrent duties across landlords, contractors, labour hire providers and site controllers. Fourth, test your controls against the reasonably practicable factors in section 18. Fifth, confirm whether any incident notification, consultation, training or industry-specific requirements are supplemented by regulations or regulator guidance.

If your business is growing, changing sites, introducing new plant, using more contractors or moving into higher risk work, those are strong reasons to review your WHS system against the Act rather than relying on old templates or assumptions.