Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 - SECT 60

Provisional improvement notices

60. Provisional improvement notices



(1) If a health and safety representative believes on reasonable grounds that
a person-

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

   (b)  has contravened such a provision in circumstances that make it likely
        that the contravention will continue or be repeated-

the health and safety representative may issue to the person a provisional
improvement notice requiring the person to remedy the contravention or likely
contravention or the matters or activities causing the contravention or likely
contravention.

(2) However, the health and safety representative may only do so after
consulting with the person about remedying the contravention or likely
contravention or the matters or activities causing the contravention or likely
contravention.

(3) A provisional improvement notice must-

   (a)  state the representative's belief on which the issue of the notice is
        based and the grounds for that belief; and

   (b)  specify the provision of this Act or the regulations that the
        representative considers has been or is likely to be contravened; and

   (c)  specify a day (at least 8 days after the day on which the notice is
        issued) before which the person is required to remedy the
        contravention or likely contravention or the matters or activities
        causing the contravention or likely contravention.

Note For service of provisional improvement notices, see section 64.

(4) A person to whom a provisional improvement notice is issued must-

   (a)  if the person is an employee, bring the notice to the attention of his
        or her employer; or

   (b)  if the person is not an employee or is an employer who is given a copy
        of the notice in accordance with paragraph (a)-

   (i)  bring the notice to the attention of each other person whose work is
        affected by the notice; and



   (ii) display a copy of the notice in a prominent place at or near the
        workplace, or part of the workplace, at which work is being performed
        that is affected by the notice. Penalty: 5 penalty units for a natural
        person; 25 penalty units for a body corporate.