The short answer A residual risk score is meaningless on its own. It only says something when measured against a threshold your business agreed in advance, which is your risk appetite, and against written consequence criteria that let two different people score the same event the same way. Most organisations have a matrix and no […]
Health and safety
Emergency Preparedness Is Not an Evacuation Plan (ISO 45001 Clause 8.2)
Open many safety management systems, turn to clause 8.2, and you will find an evacuation diagram, a muster point and a fire warden roster. That is not clause 8.2. It is one small corner of it, and treating the two as the same thing is one of the most common gaps I see as an […]
Your Exposure Limits Change on 1 December. Silica Is Not One of Them.
Australia’s WEL list replaces the WES list on 1 December 2026. Diesel particulate gets a first national limit, 33 carcinogens lose theirs, and silica does not change.
ISO 45001 Certification Cost & Timeline in Australia (2026 Guide)
The short answer ISO 45001 certification costs $7,000 to $25,000 in the first year for most Australian small to medium businesses, over a project of three to six months. After that, budget $2,000 to $5,000 a year for surveillance audits. Indicative ranges. Cost figures reviewed August 2026. How much does ISO 45001 certification cost in […]
They Had a Risk Assessment. Five Workers Still Had Lead in Their Blood.
AGL was fined $60,000 after five workers had elevated blood lead. They had a risk assessment and six items of PPE, and it missed the only route of entry that mattered.
Fined $230,000 for Someone Else’s Worker on Someone Else’s Plant
The short answer Contractor management is not a prequalification folder. Your WHS duty extends to people who are not your employees, and a contract saying otherwise does not discharge it. In August 2026 an Australian service company was convicted and fined $230,000 over a machine it did not own and a worker it did not […]
What Is a PCBU? The Duty Holder at the Centre of Australian WHS Law
Short answer. A PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking. It is the main duty holder under Australia’s work health and safety laws, and it replaced “employer” so that the duty follows the work rather than the employment contract. A PCBU is usually a company, but it can be a partnership, a sole […]
What Is a Principal Contractor? The WHS Duty You Hold Until You Hand It Over
Short answer. A principal contractor is the duty holder responsible for work health and safety across a construction project. In most of Australia the role attaches automatically to the business that commissions a project costing $250,000 or more, and it stays there unless that business appoints someone else and authorises them to have management or […]
The Energy Wheel and the Hierarchy of Controls: the Two Halves of a Risk Assessment
The short answer A risk assessment has a front end and a back end. The front end is hazard identification, and it is where most assessments quietly fail, because people can only assess the hazards they noticed. The energy wheel fixes that by asking what energy is present rather than what looks dangerous. The back […]
Your AI Rollout Is Now a Safety Question Too
Most organisations have filed artificial intelligence under governance. It sits with the privacy review, the procurement checklist and a policy about acceptable use. It is a technology decision with a compliance wrapper. Safe Work Australia has just made that filing incomplete. Its new guidance on AI and digital technologies treats these systems as something a […]
