These publications are designed to help WA organisations and their associated workforces (including volunteers) understand the new Work Health and Safety laws.

WorkSafe policies

These policies support the Statement of Regulatory Intent and provide a framework for how decisions by the regulator and WorkSafe will be made.

• WorkSafe compliance and enforcement policy (www.wa.gov.au)
• WorkSafe prosecution policy (www.wa.gov.au)
• WHS undertakings policy (www.wa.gov.au) 

Overviews of the WHS laws

Overview documents provide Information on the WHS laws that came into effect in March 2022. Guidance for mines and petroleum regulations will be released at a later date.

• Western Australia's Work Health and Safety Act 2020 - guide (demirs.wa.gov.au)
• Overview of Western Australia’s Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 (demirs.wa.gov.au)
• Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022 comparison table – Information sheet (demirs.wa.gov.au)

Interpretive guidelines

Describe how the WHS regulator believes key concepts in the WHS Act will operate and provide an indication of how the laws will be enforced.

• The meaning of 'person conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBU) – interpretive guideline (www.wa.gov.au)
• How to determine what is reasonably practicable to meet a health and safety duty - interpretive guideline (www.wa.gov.au)
• Discriminatory, coercive and misleading conduct - interpretive guideline (www.wa.gov.au)
• The health and safety duty of an officer (www.wa.gov.au)
• Duty of persons conducting business or undertakings that provide services relating to work health and safety (www.wa.gov.au)
• Incident notification (www.wa.gov.au)
• Development and submission of a safety case (www.wa.gov.au)
• Development and submission of a diving safety management system (www.wa.gov.au)
• Development and submission of an onshore facility - drilling operations safety case (www.wa.gov.au)

Codes of practice

A code of practice provides detailed information on how you can achieve the standards required under work health and safety (WHS) law.

Visit approved codes of practice to view the list of all approved and transitional codes of practice.

Guides

Guides describe practical measure that can be taken to prevent or minimise the risk of harm and contribute to the overall state of knowledge regarding hazards, risks and controls.

Visit: 

• Work health and safety guides
• Mining and exploration safety guides
• Petroleum and geothermal energy operations guides