Work health and safety laws and agriculture

Everyone in the workplace has duties under work health and safety (WHS) laws.

The Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WHS Act) and associated Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 are in place to help you ensure their workers are kept safe from injury or harm.

So it’s always a good time to check that your safety processes are up-to-date, and by involving your family members and workers in this review, you give everyone the chance to become familiar with identifying risks.

Work health and safety (WHS) laws require that reasonably practicable controls are put in place to protect everyone at a workplace.  This means defining:

• what controls could be reasonably done at a particular time
• assessing the potential risks
• assessing the likelihood of exposure to hazards and the degree of harm that could result
• what is known about the hazards and
• ways of eliminating or minimising risk.

Main responsibilities and duties

Under WHS laws, there are specific duties for:

• a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU)
• an officer
• a WHS service provider.

Learn more about the main responsibilities and duties in agriculture. 

Codes of practice

Codes of practice provide detailed information on how you can achieve the standards required under WHS laws. Codes of practice do not replace the law but can help you understand what you need to do to comply with specific regulations and provide a healthy and safe workplace for your workers.

Read more about the approved codes of practice in Western Australia.