Risks to both physical and mental health in your workplace must be managed. If you are a PCBU, you must identify, assess and control hazards. The goal is to eliminate risks, and if that’s not possible, you must minimise the risks as much as you can.
Steps to manage risks
Identify hazards
Regularly check the workplace for potential hazards such as hazardous chemicals or manual handling risks.
Assess risk
Determine how likely the risks are and how severe the consequences of those risks.
Control measures
Put measures in place to eliminate or minimise risks as much as possible. When determining control measures, apply the following measures in order of effectiveness:
- Eliminate the risk: completely remove the hazard.
- Substitute or isolate the hazard: replace the hazard with something safer or isolate it from workers.
- Engineering controls: use tools or equipment to reduce the risk (e.g., mechanical aids for lifting).
- Administrative controls: establish work procedures, training and supervision to reduce risk.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE): provide PPE for your workers when other controls can’t fully eliminate the risk.
Review controls
Regularly check and update your safety measures to ensure they remain effective. Read more on how to manage work health and safety risks.
Choosing the right control measures depends on your workplace. Talk to your workers, health and safety representatives (HSRs) and health and safety committees about the risks in your workplace and what control measures need to be put in place.