Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 - SECT 21

Duties of employers to employees

21. Duties of employers to employees



(1) An employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and
maintain for employees of the employer a working environment that is safe and
without risks to health.

Penalty: 1800 penalty units for a natural person; 9000 penalty units for a
body corporate.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), an employer contravenes that subsection
if the employer fails to do any of the following-

   (a)  provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are, so far as is
        reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;

   (b)  make arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable,
        safety and the absence of risks to health in connection with the use,
        handling, storage or transport of plant or substances;

   (c)  maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, each workplace under
        the employer's management and control in a condition that is safe and
        without risks to health;

   (d)  provide, so far as is reasonably practicable, adequate facilities for
        the welfare of employees at any workplace under the management and
        control of the employer;





   (e)  provide such information, instruction, training or supervision to
        employees of the employer as is necessary to enable those persons to
        perform their work in a way that is safe and without risks to health.

(3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2)-

   (a)  a reference to an employee includes a reference to an independent
        contractor engaged by an employer and any employees of the independent
        contractor; and

   (b)  the duties of an employer under those subsections extend to an
        independent contractor engaged by the employer, and any employees of
        the independent contractor, in relation to matters over which the
        employer has control or would have control if not for any agreement
        purporting to limit or remove that control.

(4) An offence against subsection (1) is an indictable offence.

Note However, the offence may be heard and determined summarily (see section
53 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Magistrates' Court Act 1989).