Australia Publishes Info Sheet on Standards

Written By: Atanu Das on Thursday, March 2, 2023

In the document, the Agency explains that:

Standards are not laws, so there is no general requirement on you to conform to a Standard. However, conforming to a specific Standard is mandatory if there is a law which says you must conform with it.

The Work, Health and Safety (WHS) laws require conformance with only a small number of Standards. Where the WHS laws say you must conform to specific Standards, a failure to do so may result in a breach of the WHS laws. A list of all Australian Standards referenced in the WHS Regulations is provided.

Other than the requirements in the WHS laws, there is nothing else that requires or mandates conforming to a Standard in relation to WHS.

However, it is important to note that because Standards provide guidance on particular matters, a Standard may still be relevant to a court when determining whether a duty holder has complied with the WHS laws. This means that a court may consider that conforming to a Standard is relevant to meeting the WHS duty and that it was reasonably practicable for a duty holder to conform to the Standard in the circumstances.

If a person conforms with a Standard, this does not automatically mean that they have complied with the WHS laws. There may be other risk controls not dealt with by a relevant Standard that are still reasonably practicable for the person to implement to eliminate or minimize risks to health and safety in the circumstances.

Under the WHS Act, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) is required to ensure, so far as is ‘reasonably practicable’, the health and safety of workers, and to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable that the health and safety of others (such as customers or visitors) is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the business or undertaking.