Lone Worker Legislation & Policy for Western Australia

Here are the acts and regulations found in Western Australia, related to lone working and work alone employees. We cover all the lone worker policy and legislation we have found for this area, specifically for the state of Western Australia.

Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Act 2018 

*Division 2 — General workplace duties
19. Duties of employers
(1) An employer shall, so far as is practicable, provide and maintain a working environment in which the employees of the employer the employees) are not exposed to hazards and in particular, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, an employer shall —
(a) provide and maintain workplaces, plant, and systems of work such that, so far as is practicable, the employees are not exposed to hazards; and
(b) provide such information, instruction, and training to, and supervision of, the employees as is necessary to enable them to perform their work in such a manner that they are not exposed to hazards; and
(c) consult and cooperate with safety and health representatives, if any, and other employees at the workplace, regarding occupational safety and health at the workplace; and
(d) where it is not practicable to avoid the presence of hazards at the workplace, provide the employees with, or otherwise provide for the employees to have, such adequate personal protective clothing and equipment as is practicable to protect them against those hazards, without any cost to the employees; and
(e) make arrangements for ensuring, so far as is practicable, that — (i) the use, cleaning, maintenance, transportation and disposal of plant; and (ii) the use, handling, processing, storage, transportation and disposal of substances, at the workplace is carried out in a manner such that the employees are not exposed to hazards.

* This section is from the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 as a full version of the updated 2018 Act could not be found.)

Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022

Chapter 3 – General Risk and workplace management
Part 3.1 – Managing risks to health and safety

34. Duty to identify hazards
    A duty holder, in managing risks to health and safety, must identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to risks to health and safety.
35. Managing risks to health and safety
    A duty holder, in managing risks to health and safety, must —
    (a) eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable; and
    (b) if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to health and safety — minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

(See sections 36. – 41. for regulations regarding Managing risks to health and safety and General workplace management)

Division 6 – Remote or isolated work
Regulation 48

(1A) In this regulation —assistance includes rescue, medical assistance and the
attendance of emergency service workers; remote or isolated work, in relation to a worker, means work that is isolated from the assistance of other persons because of location, time or the nature of the work.

(1) A person conducting a business or undertaking must manage risks to the health and safety of a worker associated with remote or isolated work, in accordance with Part 3.1.
Note for this subregulation: WHS Act — section 19 (see regulation 9).

(2) In minimising risks to the health and safety of a worker associated with remote or isolated work, a person conducting a business or undertaking must provide a system of work that includes effective communication with the worker.
Penalty for this subregulation:
(a) for an individual, a fine of $7 000;
(b) for a body corporate, a fine of $35 000.