What are my duties under the WHS laws?
As a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), you have a duty of care under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. You must do what you can to ensure the health and safety of workers (including yourself and other staff, contractors and volunteers) while they are at work. You also have a duty to ensure that others (e.g. visitors or customers) are not put at risk at your workplace.
The model WHS laws require you to eliminate WHS risks so far as is reasonably practicable. If this is not possible, you must minimise WHS risks as far as reasonably practicable. For more information on the meaning of reasonably practicable please see Safe Work Australia’s guide on How to determine what is reasonably practicable to meet a health and safety duty.
How do I manage the risk of avian influenza?
The most effective way to manage a risk is to completely remove the hazard from your workplace, such as removing all contact with birds or the environments they live.
In some cases, elimination might not be reasonably practicable. Where this occurs, you must minimise the risk as far as reasonably practicable by implementing control measures, such as:
- isolating any infected, or potentially infected, birds or other animals
- limiting access to poultry, or other birds or animals, to only the necessary workers
- avoiding contact with bird carcasses, or where this is not possible, ensuring the worker has appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and follows safe handling practices
- separating any work environments or activities away from areas where birds and other animals are housed
- ensuring good ventilation in the workplace, where appropriate
- ensuring good hygiene practices, including washing hands thoroughly after contact with birds or other animals
- ensuring appropriate cleaning of areas housing birds or other animals, and common areas used by workers who are at risk of exposure to avian influenza (such as shared kitchens)
- following appropriate waste management procedures, including safely removing droppings and other possibly contaminated materials, such as bird feed
- encouraging workers to get seasonal flu vaccination, and
- wearing appropriate PPE, including protective clothing, masks, gloves and goggles.
You must consult with workers and any health and safety representatives (HSRs) throughout the risk management process, including when determining and implementing the control measures necessary to manage the risk of avian influenza in your workplace. Further information on consultation can be found in Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination.
You must also provide information to workers on the signs of avian influenza infection in both animals and people, and provide appropriate training on the control measures you implement to manage the risk of avian influenza in your workplace.
For further information on managing the risk of avian influenza in your workplace, see the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) National guidelines for avian influenza: protecting people who work with birds and wildlife.
Do I need to notify my WHS regulator if a worker contracts avian influenza?
Avian influenza is a notifiable disease in Australia. This means you must notify your WHS regulator immediately after becoming aware of a worker contracting avian influenza in your workplace. You can find a list of Australian WHS regulators on our website.
For more information, see Safe Work Australia’s webpage on Incident notification.
Supporting information
- How to determine what is reasonably practicable to meet a health and safety duty
- model Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination
- Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) National guidelines for avian influenza: protecting people who work with birds and wildlife