Australian Capital Territory - Extract

Duty of Care

Section 21 of the Work Safety Act 2008 (ACT) places a duty of care on employers to:

• provide and maintain a safe workplace and safe systems of work; and
• provide and maintain plant that is safe and without risk to the safety of workers and other people.

Regulation 93 of the Work Safety Regulations 2009 (ACT) provides that person conducting a business or a person in control of a premises commits an offence if:

1. the person does not ensure that the article of electrical equipment is safe; or

2. if the article of electrical equipment is not safe:

3. the person does not ensure that the article is disconnected from the electricity supply; and

4. if found unsafe by an electrical inspector – the person does not ensure that  the article, or the part of the article that is unsafe, is danger labelled and  secured to prevent inadvertent reconnection.

Compliance

An employer may breach its duty of care by failing to maintain electrical equipment in a safe condition. Therefore, employers must ensure that risk of injury from electric shock is reduced in the workplace as far as is reasonably practicable.

To meet this duty of care, All States Safety Services recommends that employers comply with the Australian Standards (AS/NZS 3760:2010) for safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment.

Penalties apply for breach of the Work Safety Act 2008 (ACT) and the Work Safety Regulations 2009 (ACT).

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