Commonwealth Numbered Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 47

47. (1) Where, having conducted an investigation, an investigator forms the
opinion that a person:

   (a)  is contravening a provision of this Act or the regulations; or

   (b)  has contravened a provision of this Act or the regulations and is
        likely to contravene that provision again; the investigator may issue
        an improvement notice, in writing, to the person
(in this section called the "responsible person").

(2) Where the responsible person is an employer but it is not reasonably
practicable to issue the notice to the employer by giving it to the employer,
the improvement notice may 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 connection with which,
in the investigator's opinion, the employer is contravening, or is likely to
contravene, this Act or the regulations and, where the notice is so issued, a
copy of the notice must be given to the employer as soon as practicable
thereafter.

(3) The notice must:

   (a)  specify the contravention of the provision of this Act or the
        regulations that, in the investigator's opinion, is occurring or is
        likely to occur, and set out the reasons for that opinion; and

   (b)  specify a period, being a period that is, in the investigator's
        opinion, reasonable, within which the responsible person is to take
        the action necessary to prevent any further contravention of the
        provision or to prevent the likely contravention of the provision, as
        the case may be.

(4) The notice may specify action that the responsible person is to take
during the period specified in the notice under paragraph (3) (b).

(5) Where, in the investigator's opinion, it is appropriate to do so, the
investigator may, in writing and before the end of the period, extend the
period specified in the notice.

(6) The responsible person must ensure that, to the extent that the notice
relates to any matter over which the person has control, the notice is
complied with.
Penalty: $10,000.

(7) The penalty specified for a contravention of subsection (6) does not apply
to a responsible person who:

   (a)  being a natural person, is employed by an employer other than a
        Government business enterprise; or

   (b)  being a body corporate, is an employer other than a
        Government business enterprise.

(8) Where the notice is issued to an employer, the employer must:

   (a)  give a copy of the notice to each health and safety representative for
        a designated work 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.

(9) Upon issuing the notice, the investigator must give a copy of the notice
to:

   (a)  where the notice is issued to an employee in connection with work
        performed by the employee for an employer - that employer; and

   (b)  where the notice relates to any workplace, plant, substance or thing
        that is owned by a person, not being the responsible person or a
        person who is an employer referred to in paragraph (a) - that owner;
        and

   (c)  where the notice is issued to a person (not being an employer) who
        owns any workplace, plant, substance or thing by reason of which a
        contravention of this Act or the regulations has occurred or is likely
        to occur - the employer of the employees who work in that workplace or
        who use that plant, substance or thing.