Commonwealth Numbered Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 18

18. (1) A manufacturer of any plant that the manufacturer ought reasonably to
expect will be used by employees at work must take all reasonably practicable
steps:

   (a)  to ensure that the plant is so designed and constructed as to be, when
        properly used, safe for employees and without risk to their health;
        and

   (b)  to carry out, or cause to be carried out, the research, testing and
        examination necessary in order to discover, and to eliminate or
        minimise, any risk to the health or safety of employees, that may
        arise from the use of the plant; and

   (c)  to make available to an employer, in connection with the use of the
        plant by employees at work, adequate information concerning:

        (i)    the use for which it is designed and has been tested; and

        (ii)   details of its design and construction; and

        (iii)  any conditions necessary to ensure that, when put to the use
               for which it was designed and tested, it will be safe for
               employees and without risk to their health.
Penalty: $20,000.

(2) A manufacturer of any substance that the manufacturer ought reasonably to
expect will be used by employees at work must take all reasonably practicable
steps:

   (a)  to ensure that the substance is so manufactured as to be, when
        properly used, safe for employees and without risk to their health;
        and

   (b)  to carry out, or cause to be carried out, the research, testing and
        examination necessary in order to discover, and to eliminate or
        minimise, any risk, to the health and safety of employees, that may
        arise from the use of the substance; and

   (c)  to make available to an employer, in connection with the use of the
        substance by employees at work, adequate information concerning:

   (i)  the use for which it is manufactured and has been tested; and

   (ii) details of its composition; and

   (iii) any conditions necessary to ensure that, when put to the use for
        which it was manufactured and tested, it will be safe for employees
        and without risk to their health; and

   (iv) the first aid and medical procedures that should be followed if the
        substance causes injury.
Penalty: $20,000.

(3) Where:

   (a)  plant or a substance is imported into Australia by a person who is not
        the manufacturer of the plant or substance; and

   (b)  at the time of the importation the manufacturer of the plant or
        substance does not have a place of business in Australia; the
        first-mentioned person must, for the purposes of this section, be
        taken to be the manufacturer of the plant or substance.

(4) Nothing in this section affects the operation of the Trade Practices Act
1974, or of any other law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory that
imposes an obligation on a manufacturer in respect of defective goods or in
respect of information to be supplied in relation to goods.