New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATION 2001 - REG 9

9 Employer to identify hazards

(1) An employer must take reasonable care to identify any foreseeable hazard that may arise from the conduct of the employer’s undertaking and that has the potential to harm the health or safety of:

(a) any employee of the employer, or

(b) any other person legally at the employer’s place of work,

or both.

(2) In particular (and without limiting the generality of subclause (1)), the employer must take reasonable care to identify hazards arising from:

(a) the work premises, and

(b) work practices, work systems and shift working arrangements (including hazardous processes, psychological hazards and fatigue related hazards), and

(c) plant (including the transport, installation, erection, commissioning, use, repair, maintenance, dismantling, storage or disposal of plant), and

(c1) dangerous goods (including the storage or handling of dangerous goods), and

(d) hazardous substances (including the production, handling, use, storage, transport or disposal of hazardous substances), and

(e) the presence of asbestos installed in a place of work, and

(f) manual handling (including the potential for occupational overuse injuries), and

(g) the layout and condition of a place of work (including lighting conditions and workstation design), and

(h) biological organisms, products or substances, and

(i) the physical working environment (including the potential for any one or more of the following:

(i) electrocution,

(ii) drowning,

(iii) fire or explosion,

(iv) people slipping, tripping or falling,

(v) contact with moving or stationary objects,

(vi) exposure to noise, heat, cold, vibration, radiation, static electricity or a contaminated atmosphere,

(vii) the presence of a confined space), and

(j) the potential for workplace violence.

(3) An employer must ensure that effective procedures are in place, and are implemented, to identify hazards:

(a) immediately prior to using premises for the first time as a place of work, and

(b) before and during the installation, erection, commissioning or alteration of plant in a place of work, and

(c) before changes to work practices and systems of work are introduced, and

(d) before hazardous substances are introduced into a place of work, and

(e) while work is being carried out, and

(f) when new or additional information from an authoritative source relevant to the health or safety of the employees of the employer becomes available.

(4) An employer who employs 20 or fewer employees is not required to comply with this clause within the period of 2 years after its commencement (except to the extent that the clause applies to hazards involving hazardous substances or manual handling).

(5) An employer who employs more than 20 employees is not required to comply with this clause within the period of 12 months after its commencement (except to the extent that the clause applies to hazards involving hazardous substances or manual handling).

Maximum penalty: Level 4.

Note: Other provisions of this Regulation (for example, in Chapters 4 and 5) impose specific hazard identification requirements on particular persons such as controllers of places of work, designers and manufacturers of plant and so on.