Commonwealth Numbered Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 5

5. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"annual report" means the annual report (if any) of a Department or
Commonwealth authority to the responsible Minister for the Department or
authority relating to the activities, operations, business or affairs of the
Department or authority;

"annual report of the Commission" means the annual report of the Commission
under section 63M of the Audit Act 1901 as applied by section 90 of the
Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988;

"chief executive officer", in relation to a Commonwealth authority, means the
person (by whatever name called) who is responsible for the administration of
the authority;

"Commission" means the Commission for the Safety, Rehabilitation and
Compensation of Commonwealth Employees established by section 68 of the
Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988;

"Commonwealth authority" means:

   (a)  a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under a law of
        the Commonwealth or a law of a Territory (other than the Northern
        Territory or Norfolk Island); or

   (b)  a body corporate:

        (i)    that is incorporated under a law of the Commonwealth or a State
               or Territory; and

        (ii)   in which the Commonwealth, or a body corporate referred to in
               paragraph (a), has a controlling interest; and

        (iii)  that is not a body corporate that the Minister, by notice
               published in the Gazette, has declared not to be a
               Commonwealth authority for the purposes of this Act;

"Commonwealth premises" means premises owned or occupied by the Commonwealth
or by a Commonwealth authority;

"contract" includes any arrangement or understanding;

"contractor" means a natural person, other than a person who is employed by
the Commonwealth or by a Commonwealth authority, who:

   (a)  performs work on Commonwealth premises in connection with an
        undertaking being carried on by the Commonwealth, being work that is
        being performed, or that is connected with work that is being
        performed, under a contract entered into between the Commonwealth and
        that person or any other person (whether a natural person or not); or

   (b)  performs work on Commonwealth premises in connection with an
        undertaking being carried on by a Commonwealth authority, being work
        that is being performed, or that is connected with work that is being
        performed, under a contract entered into between the authority and
        that person or any other person (whether a natural person or not);

"controlling interest", in relation to a body corporate, means:

   (a)  an interest in the body corporate that enables the person holding the
        interest to:

        (i)    control the composition of the board of directors of the body
               corporate; or

        (ii)   cast, or control the casting of, more than one-half of the
               maximum number of votes that might be cast at a general meeting
               of the body corporate; or

        (iii)  control more than one-half of the issued share capital of the
               body corporate (excluding any part of that issued share capital
               that carries no right to participate beyond a specified amount
               in a distribution of either profits or capital); or

   (b)  an interest in another body corporate that constitutes, under
        paragraph (a), a controlling interest in that other body corporate,
        being:

        (i)    a body corporate that, under paragraph (a), has a
               controlling interest in the first-mentioned body corporate; or

        (ii)   a body corporate that has such a controlling interest by
               another application or other applications of this paragraph;

"dangerous occurrence" means an occurrence, at a workplace, that is declared
by the regulations to be a dangerous occurrence for the purpose of this
definition;

"Department" means a body or instrumentality that is:

   (a)  a Department within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1922; or

   (b)  declared by the regulations to be a Department for the purposes of
        this Act;

"designated work group" means a group of employees established as a
designated work group in accordance with section 24, or that designated work
group as varied in accordance with that section, and, in relation to an
employer, means such a group that consists entirely of employees of that
employer;

"employee" has the meaning given in section 9;

"employer" means the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority;

"employing authority" means:

   (a)  in relation to a person who is employed by the Commonwealth or who is
        a contractor of a kind referred to in paragraph (a) of
the definition of "contractor" in this subsection:

        (i)    the person or body specified in the regulations to be the
               employing authority in relation to that first-mentioned person
               or in relation to a class of persons that includes that
               first-mentioned person; or

        (ii)   if the regulations do not so specify a person or body - the
               Secretary of the Department for which the first-mentioned
               person is performing work; or

   (b)  in relation to a workplace at which, or any plant, substance or thing
        with which, a person of the kind first-mentioned in paragraph (a) is
        performing work for the Commonwealth - the person or body who is,
        under paragraph (a), the employing authority in relation to that
        first-mentioned person;

"Government business enterprise" means:

   (a)  a Commonwealth authority to which paragraph (a) of
the definition of "Commonwealth authority" applies:

        (i)    that is specified in the Schedule; or

        (ii)   that the Minister, by instrument published in the Gazette, has
               declared to be a Government business enterprise for the
               purposes of this Act; or

   (b)  a Commonwealth authority to which paragraph (b) of that definition
        applies;

"improvement notice" means an improvement notice issued under subsection 47
(1);

"investigation" means an investigation conducted under Part 4;

"investigator" means a person appointed under section 40 to be an
investigator;

"involved union" means:

   (a)  in relation to an employee of an employer - a registered union of
        which the employee is a member, being an employee who is qualified to
        be such a member by virtue of the work the employee performs as an
        employee of the employer; or

   (b)  in relation to a designated work group - a registered union of which
        an employee included in the group is a member, being an employee who
        is qualified to be such a member by virtue of the work the employee
        performs as an employee included in the group;

"own", in relation to a workplace, plant, a substance or a thing, includes own
jointly, or own in part, the workplace, plant, substance or thing;

"plant" includes any machinery, equipment or tool, and any component thereof;

"prohibition notice" means a prohibition notice issued under subsection 46
(1);

"registered union" means:

   (a)  an organisation within the meaning of the
        Industrial Relations Act 1988; or

   (b)  a body that is declared by the regulations to be a registered union
        for the purposes of this Act;

"reviewing authority" means the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
established under section 8 of the Industrial Relations Act 1988;

"Secretary", in relation to a Department, means a person who:

   (a)  in the case of a Department referred to in
paragraph (a) of the definition of "Department" - has, in relation to the
Department, the powers exercisable by a Secretary under the Public Service Act
1922; or

   (b)  in the case of a Department referred to in
paragraph (b) of the definition of "Department" - is the holder of the office
or position declared by the regulations to be the office or position the
holder of which is, for the purposes of this Act, to be the Secretary in
relation to the Department;

"workplace" means any Commonwealth premises in which employees or contractors
work, other than any part of such premises that is primarily used as a private
dwelling.

(2) A reference in a particular provision of this Act to the responsible
Minister in relation to an employer is a reference:

   (a)  where the employer is the Commonwealth and, in the circumstances set
        out in that provision, is acting through a particular Department - to
        the Minister responsible for that Department; and

   (b)  where the employer is a Commonwealth authority referred to in
        paragraph
(a) of the definition of "Commonwealth authority" - to the Minister who is
responsible for the administration of the Act or other law under which the
Commonwealth authority is established; and

   (c)  where the employer is a Commonwealth authority referred to in
        paragraph
(b) of the definition of "Commonwealth authority" - to the Minister who is
responsible for the administration of the Department dealing with matters that
include the matters for the performance of which the Commonwealth authority
was principally incorporated.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, an employee is to be taken to be at work at
all times when the employee is performing work in connection with an
undertaking carried on by an employer, whether or not the work is carried out
at a workplace.

(4) A reference in this Act to an employee of an employer at a particular
workplace is a reference to an employee who works at that workplace in the
capacity of an employee of that employer.

(5) A reference in this Act to an accident includes a reference to the
contracting of a disease.

(6) A reference in this Act to a contravention of this Act or to a
contravention of the regulations includes, where the contravention constitutes
an offence, a reference to an offence against:

   (a)  section 6, 7 or 7A of the Crimes Act 1914; or

   (b)  subsection 86 (1) of that Act by virtue of paragraph (a) of that
        subsection; being an offence that relates to the contravention.

(7) Where this Act refers to a Minister, specifying the Minister merely by
reference to the Minister administering an Act, the reference to the Minister
is to be taken to be a reference to:

   (a)  if, for the time being, different Ministers administer the Act in
        respect of different matters:

        (i)    if 2 or more Ministers administer the Act in respect of the
               relevant matter - any one of those Ministers; or

        (ii)   if only one Minister administers the Act in respect of the
               relevant matter - that Minister; or

   (b)  if paragraph (a) does not apply and, for the time being, 2 or more
        Ministers administer the Act - any one of those Ministers; or

   (c)  if paragraphs (a) and (b) do not apply - the Minister for the time
        being administering the Act.
(8) An instrument referred to in the definition of "Government business
enterprise" in subsection (1) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of
section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.