As an employee, you also have legal responsibilities under section 28 of the WHS Act to ensure that you:

• Take care for your own health and safety.
• Take care that your own actions or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of others.
• Follow reasonable instructions and directions designed to enable work to be done safely.
• Co-operate with health and safety policies and procedures affecting the workplace.

If you do find yourself injured at work, your agency will help you to achieve a safe and sustainable return to work at the earliest possible opportunity. The rights are responsibilities applying to work-injured employees are detailed in the Return to Work Act 2014 (external site) (external site).

If you are a manager, you may have additional duties under the WHS Act, or be required to take actions to ensure that your agency complies with the Act. The WHS Act defines workers broadly to include contractors and subcontractors, labour hire workers, volunteers, trainees, and students as well as employees. Duties are owed to these groups as well as to visitors attending government workplaces, whose safety may be impacted by the activities undertaken at the workplace.

Be aware that the WHS Act allows for duties to be shared by multiple duty holders. This is commonly seen where contractors are engaged and both the government agency engaging the contractor as well as the contractor, and any subcontractors, all have duties in relation to health and safety. In this case, it is a requirement that duty holders consult, cooperate and coordinate to protect safety for everyone in the workplace. Duties are also owed to other people attending government workplaces whose safety might be impacted by the activities undertaken at the workplace. These may include volunteers, visitors, trainees, and students.

As a senior manager, you may be considered to be an ‘officer’ under section 27 of the WHS Act if your role is defined as being ‘a person who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of a business or undertaking of the Crown or public authority’. The WHS Act places a positive duty on officers to demonstrate due diligence in fulfilling their obligations.

Additional training and information will be provided to officers and other managers by your agency to assist you to meet the additional requirements of your role.

All government agencies develop policies, procedures and processes to manage health and safety. You should ensure that you have familiarised yourself with all relevant procedures and other mechanisms that are in place to protect your health and safety at work. Agencies will make you aware of these during your induction and will ensure that you have ongoing access to information, for example through your agency’s intranet. As an employee, you are also strongly encouraged to become engaged with consultation processes for health and safety in the workplace, for example by having input to the development and review of procedures or by involvement in workplace health and safety committees.

Health and safety is not just about physical safety. Psychological health and safety issues can cause the longest absences from work. The public sector aims to foster workplace cultures that promote job satisfaction, motivation and productivity through an engaged workforce. Prioritising mental wellbeing helps us to create high-performing and sustainable workplaces. Most agencies offer wellbeing programs and also provide access to confidential counselling services through their employee assistance programs.