Employer responsibilities
The employer controls the workplace: the equipment provided, the time allowed, the people hired and the standards enforced. Because control sits with the employer, so does the larger share of legal duty.
- Provide a safe place of work, safe plant and safe systems of work
- Assess risks and put proportionate controls in place before work starts
- Provide information, instruction, training and supervision
- Supply suitable PPE free of charge and maintain it
- Consult workers on matters affecting their health and safety
- Arrange emergency response, first aid and health surveillance
- Monitor, audit and continually improve safety performance
Worker responsibilities
Worker duties are narrower but not optional. They exist because no control system survives a workforce that works around it.
- Take reasonable care of your own safety and that of others affected by your work
- Follow the training, procedures and permits you have been given
- Use the equipment and PPE provided, in the way you were trained to use it
- Report hazards, defects, near misses and incidents promptly
- Do not interfere with or misuse anything provided for safety
- Stop work and raise concerns when a control is missing
Where the line actually falls
Disputes usually arise where the employer provided a control and the worker did not use it. The honest question in those cases is whether using the control was actually possible: was the harness anchor within reach, was there time to fetch it, was the person trained on it, and had the supervisor tolerated the shortcut before?
A rule that is impossible to follow while meeting the schedule is not a rule. It is a trap.
Effective safety management closes that gap. It makes the safe way the easy way, and it makes supervision responsible for noticing when the two diverge.