Work Health and Safety Requirements

Auditing

New South Wales

SIRA will assess the applicant’s commitment to safety, as well as its historical workplace safety record, by reviewing the compliance and safety history of the applicant as provided and regulated by SafeWork NSW over the last four years.

N/A

Victoria

Safety Management Systems are audited against the National Self-Insurer OHS Management System Audit Tool for all new applicants and current self-insurers.

Compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 — Inspectorate field interventions including enforcement activity, prosecutions and incident notifications.

Annual self-audit requirements for the duration of the licence period. The self-audits comprise of the following two components:

• occupational health and safety management system requirements, and
• claims management obligations of employers and other requirements.

Audits undertaken by the regulator:

• at time of application for approval and renewal of approval against the National Self-Insurer OHS Management System Audit Tool; and
• claims management audit conducted once in a self-insurer’s term of approval.
• other claims management 'health checks' as required.

Queensland

Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 s71(4) and s72(4) — The Workers’ Compensation Regulator must ask the chief executive of the department within which the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 is administered to prepare a report about the employer’s work health and safety performance.

The report provided in accordance with s71(4) and s72(4) includes a summary of prosecutions, enforceable undertakings and notices issued against the self-insurer and a summary of audit findings. The audit for self-insurance is conducted at the time of licence renewal or before an initial licence is granted.

Western Australia

Work health and safety requirements are handled by WorkSafe WA.

Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984

WorkSafe WA

N/A

South Australia

Compliance with the Self-insurer Standards and the WHS and Injury Management Standards, which can be found in the Code of Conduct. See also s129 of the Return to Work Act 2014.

• Evaluation (work health and safety and injury management/rehabilitation) against the standards will be carried out in preparation for each registration renewal, and at other times should something come to ReturnToWorkSA’s attention that indicates a need for a further evaluation. See 2.5.2 ‘Performance standards’ within the Code of Conduct for Self-insured Employers
• ReturnToWorkSA also monitors self-insured employers throughout non-renewal years.

Tasmania

• Must have an established work health and safety management system.
• Upon application to self-insure, a National Audit Tool (NAT) audit report is provided by a certified auditor or evidence of JAS—ANZ certification against AS/NZ 4801:2001 and the National Audit Tool 3.
• Must provide the WorkCover Tasmania Board with a comprehensive work health and safety report annually.

• Work health and safety management system to be self-audited annually, with the use of the National Audit Tool as the audit tool
• Conducting and providing the annual WHS management systems report
• WorkCover surveillance audits are conducted bi-annually as well in the alternate year a self-assessment report must be submitted.
• WorkCover surveillance audits

Northern Territory

Conditions for the approval of self-insurers under the workers’ compensation scheme in the Northern Territory require evidence that the self-insurers has in place a work health and safety management system and conducts regular audits. Safety Management Systems are required to be audited using the National Self-Insurer OHS Management System Audit Tool.

Annual self-audits are required using the National Self-insurer OHS Management System Audit Tool.

Australian Capital Territory

• Compliant with employer’s duties under Work Health and Safety Act 2011
• Copy of work health and safety policy and evidence that is has been brought to the attention of the employer’s workers.
• Has in place an occupational health and safety management system that complies with applicable Australian or New Zealand standards.

The self-insurer must agree to participate in, and pay the costs of, an audit to establish that the self-insurer has adequate resources to meet its current and expected liabilities under the Act.

The employer must agree to participate in, and pay the costs of, an audit to establish that the employer has complied with its regulatory obligations.

C’wealth Comcare

• The SRC Commission sets Performance Standards and Measures for licensees, which include performance targets for WHS.
• Licensees must demonstrate to the SRC Commission that they are continuing to meet the Commission’s Performance Standards and Measures throughout the licence term.
• Licensees with Commonwealth WHS coverage must comply with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth). They are required to notify relevant incidents and are subject to inspectorate interventions including enforcement activity and prosecutions as and when required.
• The Commission is provided with regular updates on all aspects of each licensee’s performance, taking into consideration audit and compliance performances to determine if the licensee is complying with the conditions of licence or if further action is required to address relevant concerns.

• WHS systems evaluation occurs prior to the grant of licence.
• In the first two years of a licence, licensees are considered ‘Developing’ and are subject to extensive annual reviews.
• From year three, licensees are considered to be established and must provide annual evidence they are maintaining their WHS management system and meeting the applicable Commission’s Performance Standards and Measures.
• This evidence can be supplied through internal or external audits, reviews or other means. Scheduled WHS management systems reviews in years two and six of the eight year licence (if and as required)

New Zealand

An audit of an employer’s health and safety systems and practices is carried out as part of the entry requirements. A comprehensive entry audit is undertaken in order to satisfy Accident Compensation Corporation that an employer has the capacity and capability to manage and administer claims at least to the same standard as Accident Compensation Corporation.

Every Accredited Employer must agree to provide to each employee without charge a written statement in plain English that specifies the procedures and requirements under its contract in relation to the lodging of claims, provision of treatment, handling of claims, assessment of incapacity, assessment of capacity for work, and dispute resolution.

Monitoring and audit programme includes:

• a review of the reporting of claims details and expenditure to be utilised to provide regular comparative benchmarking reports for the Manager and the individual Accredited Employer
• onsite audits at least annually of claims management performance
• regular meetings between the account manager and the Accredited Employer (the frequency of which will depend on the experience of the individual Accredited Employer)
• in the discretion of the Manager and in conjunction with the annual audit programme, a claimant satisfaction survey to determine overall claimant satisfaction with the Accredited Employers Program
• active liaison with Accredited Employer’s workplace employee representatives (if any)
• monitoring of the ongoing solvency of the Accredited Employer and its expected ability to meet its obligations under the Accreditation Agreement, and
• annual health and safety audit using approved audit tool.