-
An OHS Inspector Is at Your Door: What Happens Next
⚡ Quick answer OHS inspectors from the Department of Employment & Labour may enter your workplace without a warrant, examine the premises, equipment and documents, question employees, and take samples. Afterwards they can issue three escalating notices: a contravention notice (fix this), an improvement notice (fix this by a deadline), or a prohibition notice (stop this work now) — plus prosecution with fines or imprisonment for offences. Most inspections are triggered by complaints, reported incidents or sector blitzes. The inspection-ready file is short: risk assessment, appointments, training records, registers and incident reports, current and retrievable in minutes. The OHS inspection is the enforcement moment every employer vaguely fears and few…
-
Your Workplace Risk Assessment in One Afternoon (No Consultant Needed)
⚡ Quick answer A small business can complete a credible workplace risk assessment in one afternoon with five steps: walk the workplace and list the hazards; note who could be harmed by each; rate each risk (likelihood times severity); choose controls using the hierarchy — eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrate, protect; and write it all down with owners and dates. The OHS Act does not prescribe the form — it requires that hazards are identified and controlled, and only a written, implemented, reviewed assessment proves you did it. The risk assessment has a reputation problem: it sounds like a consulting engagement with a binder at the end. For most small businesses…
-
The 7-Day Incident Reporting Rule Most Employers Learn Too Late
⚡ Quick answer Section 24 of the OHS Act requires employers to report serious workplace incidents to the Department of Employment & Labour within 7 days: deaths, unconsciousness, lost limbs, injuries likely to be fatal or permanently disabling, and incapacity of 14 days or more. The scene of a fatal or serious incident must be preserved until the inspector allows it to be disturbed. This OHS report is separate from the COIDA injury claim — both are due, on parallel 7-day clocks, to different offices. There is a legal clock that starts the moment something goes seriously wrong at work — and most employers have never heard of it until…
-
Is Your First-Aid Kit Legal? What the Regulations Actually Require
⚡ Quick answer A legal workplace first-aid kit is a stocked box matched to your workplace’s hazards — dressings, bandages, plasters, antiseptic, gloves, scissors, a CPR mouthpiece and more, with hazard-specific additions like eye-wash where chemicals are used. Boxes must be accessible, marked, and under a named person’s control, with monthly checks against a contents list. Once more than 10 employees are at work, you also need a certified first aider — one per 50 employees in shops and offices, one per 100 elsewhere. No medicines in the box, ever. The first-aid kit is the cheapest compliance item in the OHS Act — and one of the most common inspection…
-
Crossed 20 Employees? You Now Need a Health and Safety Representative
⚡ Quick answer Once you employ more than 20 people, the OHS Act requires a designated health and safety representative: at least one per 100 employees in shops and offices, one per 50 in all other workplaces. The appointment must be in writing, for a defined area and period, made in consultation with employees — and the rep is entitled to training and reasonable paid time off to perform the role. Designate two or more reps and a health and safety committee becomes mandatory, meeting at least every three months with minutes kept. Growth changes your legal duties quietly — and one of the quietest thresholds is twenty-one. The day…
-
An Employee Was Injured Today: The First-24-Hours Protocol
⚡ Quick answer When an employee is injured at work, the first 24 hours follow a fixed protocol: get medical attention immediately, make the scene safe (and preserve it if the injury is serious), record the incident with witnesses and photos, notify the family where relevant, and start the two reporting clocks — the COIDA claim to the Compensation Fund within 7 days, and for serious incidents the OHS report to the Department inspector within 7 days. Keep paying the employee; for temporary total disablement the employer pays the first three months and claims it back from the Fund. The day an employee injured at work is the day your…
