As far as is reasonably practical, Directors-General must exercise due diligence to ensure work environments are safe and healthy for workers, clients and visitors, and that Directorates comply with whole-of-government policies on work health and safety.
In this context, due diligence means taking reasonable steps to:
1. acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters;
2. understand the nature and operations of the work and associated hazards and risks;
3. ensure the Directorate has available appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work carried out as part of the Directorate’s operations;
4. ensure the Directorate has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information;
5. ensure the Directorate has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation of the Directorate under the WHS Act; and
6. verify the provision and use of the resources and processes referred to in paragraphs (c) to (e) above.
Directors-General must, so far as is reasonably practicable:
• ensure they are updated regularly on incidents, hazards and risks and respond in a timely way to that information;
• ensure they have an appropriate governance structure in place to enable work health and safety to be properly attended to;
• plan, resource, implement and monitor local procedures to support ACTPS whole-of-government policies;
• have people who are appropriately qualified and accountable for work health and safety;
• implement a well-documented system for identifying, reporting, and responding to all actual and potential hazards in the workplace;
• ensure safe practices, procedures and controls are in place that are specific to the hazards of their Directorate that either meet or exceed the requirements set out in the WHS legislation – including relevant approved Codes of Practice:
o includes providing and maintaining safe use, handling, storage and transport of plant structures and substances and a safe system of work;
• ensure those safe practices, procedures and controls referred to above are used and regularly monitored;
• ensure that work health and safety is part of the Directorate’s internal audit committee’s terms of reference;
• implement a written register or record of decisions that impact the undertakings of the Directorate and ensure that health and safety matters are actively considered in the decision making;
• where necessary, provide ongoing instruction and training to supervisors, managers and workers;
• communicate regularly with workers about foreseeable health and safety risks, including the implications of all ACTPS whole-of-government policies;
• allocate adequate time and resources for health and safety, including health and safety committees;
• report all injuries and notifiable incidents as required by law;
• monitor and audit health and safety programs every three years (timeframe dependant on level of risk) basis;
• monitor the health of workers and conditions of the workplace to prevent illness or injury to workers arising from the performance of their work; and