WHS Risk Assessment for Australian PCBUs
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, PCBUs have a legal obligation to conduct risk assessments — and to document them in a form that demonstrates the obligation was genuinely met.
What the WHS Act requires
The WHS Act (and equivalent state legislation) requires PCBUs to manage risks to health and safety. This is not optional: regulators can issue improvement notices, prohibition notices, or prosecute if workplace risk management is inadequate.
Officers — directors, executives, and senior managers — have a separate due diligence duty under section 27 of the WHS Act. They must take reasonable steps to ensure the PCBU has appropriate resources and processes to meet its WHS obligations, and that those processes are being followed.
A risk assessment that cannot withstand scrutiny is not a risk assessment — it is a liability.
Why DIY templates do not meet the standard
A downloaded template may help you identify some hazards. It does not constitute evidence that a genuine, site-specific assessment was conducted by a person competent to do so.
- Regulators look for evidence that hazards specific to your workplace and operations were identified — not a generic checklist.
- The WHS Regulations require that risk controls follow the hierarchy of controls. A template cannot apply this to your specific plant, equipment, and work practices.
- Incident investigations and prosecutions routinely expose the inadequacy of template-based compliance. Courts assess whether the assessment was genuine, not whether a form exists.
- Insurers may scrutinise your risk assessment documentation when assessing claims. A template is less likely to satisfy underwriters than a documented, advisor-guided process.
How advisor-guided assessment produces defensible evidence
Advisor-guided risk assessment replaces the assumption that a form constitutes evidence with documentation that demonstrates genuine compliance.
- Hazard identification conducted with knowledge of your specific operations, not generic industry categories.
- Risk scoring applied using a methodology aligned to Safe Work Australia guidance.
- Controls selected using the hierarchy — elimination, substitution, isolation, engineering, administrative, PPE — and documented with rationale.
- Completed documentation reviewed for adequacy before delivery, suitable for regulator review, incident investigation, and insurer assessment.
Speak with a Risk Advisor
Find out whether your current risk assessment documentation meets the standard — and what a managed assessment would involve for your business.
Contact a Risk Advisor