Commonwealth Numbered Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 46

46. (1) Where, having conducted an investigation, an investigator forms the
opinion that it is reasonably necessary to issue a prohibition notice to an
employer in order to remove an immediate threat to the health or safety of any
person, the investigator may issue such a notice, in writing, to the employer.

(2) The notice must be issued to the employer by giving it to the person who
is, or who may reasonably be presumed to be, for the time being in charge of
the activity, undertaken by the employer, in respect of which, in the
investigator's opinion, the threat to health or safety has arisen.

(3) The notice must:

   (a)  specify the activity in respect of which, in the investigator's
        opinion, the threat to health or safety has arisen, and set out the
        reasons for that opinion; and

   (b)  either:

        (i)    direct the employer to ensure that the activity is not engaged
               in; or

        (ii)   direct the employer to ensure that the activity is not engaged
               in in a specified manner, being a manner that may relate to any
               one or more of the following:

                (A)  any workplace, or part of a workplace, at which the
                     activity is not to be engaged in;

                (B)  any plant or substance that is not to be used in
                     connection with the activity;

                (C)  any procedure that is not to be followed in connection
                     with the activity.

(4) The employer must ensure that, to the extent that the notice relates to
any matter over which the employer has control, the notice is complied with.
Penalty: in the case of a Government business enterprise - $25,000.

(5) Where an investigator is satisfied that action taken by an employer to
remove the threat to health and safety that caused the notice to be issued is
not adequate to remove that threat, the investigator must inform the employer
accordingly.

(6) The notice ceases to have effect when an investigator notifies the
employer that the investigator is satisfied that the employer has taken
adequate action to remove the threat to health or safety that caused the
notice to be issued.

(7) In making a decision under subsection (5), an investigator may exercise
such of the powers of an investigator conducting an investigation as the
investigator considers necessary for the purposes of making the decision.

(8) The notice may specify action that may be taken in order to satisfy an
investigator that adequate action has been taken to remove the threat to
health and safety that caused the notice to be issued.

(9) The employer must:

   (a)  give a copy of the notice to each health and safety representative (if
        any) for a group of the employer's employees performing work that is
        affected by the notice; and

   (b)  cause a copy of the notice to be displayed in a prominent place at or
        near each workplace at which that work is being performed.

(10) Where the notice relates to any workplace, plant, substance or thing that
is owned by a person other than an employer, the investigator must, upon
issuing the notice, give a copy of the notice to that person.