WHS means work health and safety. It is the term used in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), the law that protects workers and other people from harm caused by work. You may also hear OHS or OH&S, but the current Queensland Act and Regulation are written around “work health and safety”.
If you are a new business owner, an apprentice or a student, the acronyms can feel like a wall. This guide explains what WHS stands for, how it relates to OHS and OH&S, who the law applies to and the main ideas behind it. For the full map of the Act, the Regulation and the codes of practice, see our Queensland WHS laws explained guide.
What WHS stands for and what the Act is trying to do
WHS stands for work health and safety. In Queensland the main law is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the WHS Act), with the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (the WHS Regulation) made under it.
Section 3(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) sets out the Act’s main object: to provide for a balanced and nationally consistent framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces. The first way it does that, in section 3(1)(a), is by protecting workers and other persons against harm to their health, safety and welfare through the elimination or minimisation of risks arising from work. The same subsection also lists fair and effective workplace representation and consultation (paragraph (b)). Section 3(2) adds that workers and other persons should be given the highest level of protection against harm from hazards and risks arising from work as is reasonably practicable.
“Health” includes psychological health
The dictionary in schedule 5 of the WHS Act says health means physical and psychological health. So WHS is not only about cuts, falls and machinery. Section 55A of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) goes on to define a psychosocial hazard as a hazard that arises from, or relates to, the design or management of work, a work environment, plant at a workplace, or workplace interactions or behaviours, and that may cause psychological harm. Our guide on psychosocial hazards at work covers that in detail.
WHS vs OHS vs OH&S
People use these labels loosely, and you may come across any of them on older documents or in job ads. Here is what we could confirm from the Queensland legislation we checked:
- The current Queensland Act is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. Its Regulation is the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. Those are the instruments to cite for Queensland workplaces.
- An earlier Queensland Act has been repealed. Section 277 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) says the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 is repealed.
- The Act itself hardly uses “occupational health and safety”. In the copy we checked, the phrase appears only in schedule 2, section 24 (reports about the performance of an employer applying for workers’ compensation self-insurance). The Act’s duties are written in terms of “work health and safety”. The abbreviations OHS, OH&S and WH&S do not appear in the Act or the Regulation. The Regulation uses the full phrase only in a few specific places, such as a qualification name, a self-insurance report fee and a former national body.
- The regulator’s name says “workplace”, not “work”. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ), part of the Office of Industrial Relations, is the Queensland work health and safety regulator. WorkCover Queensland is a different body: it is the workers’ compensation insurer, not the WHS regulator.
We have not compared the older Act with the current one, so we are not saying OHS and WHS mean precisely the same thing. In practice, treat OHS and OH&S as everyday labels for workplace safety in general, and use “WHS” and the Queensland Act and Regulation when you want to know what the law actually says.
Who WHS law applies to
The Act sets duties on different people. The four you will meet most:
- A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). Section 5 says a person conducts a business or undertaking whether alone or with others, and whether or not it is run for profit. It includes partnerships and unincorporated associations. A person engaged solely as a worker or as an officer is not conducting the business to that extent (s 5(4)), and a volunteer association, as defined in s 5(8), does not conduct one (s 5(7)). Section 19 puts the primary duty of care on the PCBU. Our guide What is a PCBU? goes further.
- Workers. Section 7 says a person is a worker if they carry out work in any capacity for a PCBU, including as an employee, contractor or subcontractor, employee of a labour hire company, apprentice or trainee, student gaining work experience or volunteer. Under section 28 a worker must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect others, comply (so far as they are reasonably able) with reasonable instructions from the PCBU, and co-operate with any reasonable notified policy or procedure on health or safety.
- Officers. Under section 27, an officer of a PCBU must exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU complies with its duties. The dictionary in schedule 5 defines “officer” by reference to section 9AD of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (other than a partner in a partnership), with separate limbs for government and public authority officers, and excludes an elected member of a local government acting in that capacity.
- Other persons at the workplace. Section 29 says a person at a workplace must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect others, and comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction from the PCBU that allows it to comply with the Act. A workplace (s 8) can include a vehicle.
The main ideas in plain English
- Primary duty of care (s 19). A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its workers while at work, and that other persons’ health and safety is not put at risk by the work.
- Reasonably practicable (s 18). This means what is reasonably able to be done, weighing up all relevant matters, including the likelihood and degree of harm, what you know or ought to know, the availability and suitability of ways to reduce the risk and, last, the cost, including whether it is grossly disproportionate to the risk. See Reasonably practicable explained.
- Eliminate first, then minimise (s 17). Where it is reasonably practicable you eliminate risks; if it is not, you minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable. Part 3.1 of the WHS Regulation (ss 32 to 38) fills in the steps: identify hazards (s 34), manage the risk (s 35), use the hierarchy of control measures (s 36), keep controls effective (s 37) and review them (s 38).
- Consultation (ss 47 and 48). A PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult workers who are or are likely to be directly affected by a work health or safety matter. Consultation means sharing relevant information, giving workers a reasonable opportunity to express views and contribute to decisions, taking their views into account and telling them the outcome.
- Notifiable incidents (ss 35 and 38). A notifiable incident is a death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident. A PCBU must ensure the regulator is notified immediately after becoming aware of one, and must keep a record of each for at least 5 years from the day notice is given. Notifying the regulator is separate from workers’ compensation.
- The Regulation. It is made under the Act and adds detail on specific hazards and types of work.
- Codes of practice (s 26A). An approved code of practice is practical guidance rather than law in itself. But section 26A requires a PCBU to comply with an approved code, or manage the hazards and risks in a different way that provides an equivalent or higher standard of health and safety. A court can also rely on a code when deciding what is reasonably practicable (s 275).
- The regulator. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is the body you notify and the one to ask about your situation.
Small glossary
| Term | What the legislation says |
|---|---|
| Health | Physical and psychological health (WHS Act schedule 5) |
| Workplace | A place where work is carried out for a business or undertaking, including any place a worker goes, or is likely to go, while at work (s 8) |
| PCBU | A person conducting a business or undertaking, alone or with others, whether or not for profit (s 5) |
| Worker | A person who carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU, including employees, contractors, apprentices, trainees, students on work experience and volunteers (s 7) |
| Officer | Defined by reference to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and, for government bodies, other provisions (WHS Act schedule 5) |
| Reasonably practicable | What is reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, weighing up the matters in s 18 |
| Notifiable incident | A death, a serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident (s 35) |
| Approved code of practice | A code of practice approved under part 14 of the WHS Act (schedule 5) |
| Psychosocial hazard | A hazard from the design or management of work, a work environment, plant or workplace interactions or behaviours that may cause psychological harm (WHS Regulation s 55A) |
Where to start if WHS is new to you
These steps are common practice for small businesses rather than a legal checklist, but they follow the ideas above. Work out whether you are a PCBU, a worker or both. Write down who is responsible for what. Walk the site or office, list the hazards and decide what to do about each. Talk to the people doing the work, because consultation is both a legal duty (so far as is reasonably practicable, under section 47) and a good source of information. Keep records so you can show what you did.
If you want a head start, our free work health and safety policy template and free risk assessment template are starting points to adapt to your own business. There are also the WHS Manual Template and the Hazard Management Policy Template, which you can adapt in the same way. Edit any template so it describes how your business actually works.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the current law or talk to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland for your situation.
Templates for this job
Ready-to-edit Word and Excel templates for Queensland workplaces.
