What are codes of practice? WHS codes explained

A code of practice is practical guidance on how to meet the health and safety duties in the WHS Act and Regulations. Safe Work Australia develops model codes, and each state or territory approves them to apply locally. An approved code is not law in itself, but it carries real weight. Courts can treat it as evidence of what is known about a hazard and its controls, and following it usually means you meet the duty it covers.

Codes are where the abstract duties become specific. The Act says you must manage risks. A code shows you how to identify hazards, assess them and control them for a particular kind of work, such as working at height or handling loads.

What is a code of practice?

Model codes of practice are published by Safe Work Australia. They are practical guides to meeting the standards in the model WHS Act and Regulations. A model code has no legal effect until a jurisdiction approves it as a code of practice there. Your state or territory WHS regulator can tell you which codes are approved for you, and each approved code applies to anyone with a duty in the circumstances it describes.

Victoria is the exception to the naming. It has its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and Regulations 2017, and it uses compliance codes instead of WHS codes of practice. The idea is the same: a compliance code sets out one way to meet a duty, and you can use another way if it gives the same or better protection.

How codes differ from Acts and regulations

Each layer of WHS law does a different job.

A regulation tells you what must be done. A code tells you how to do it well. Neither replaces the other, and the Act's duties apply in every case, including the risks no code covers.

Are codes of practice enforceable?

An approved code is not a law, so you can't be prosecuted for breaking it as you would for breaking a regulation. The Act's duties still apply, and a code matters in three ways:

• It is admissible in court. The WHS Act allows an approved code to be used in proceedings, and courts can treat it as evidence of what was known about a hazard, a risk or a control. See section 275.
• It helps show what is reasonably practicable. Courts can use the code to decide what a reasonable business would have done in the circumstances.
• Following it usually meets the duty. Safe Work Australia's guidance says that following an approved code would achieve compliance with the duties in most cases. Section 274 deals with approval.

The corollary matters just as much. If you don't follow a code, you need to show that your alternative manages the risk at least as well. You can't simply say you chose not to read it. A business that ignores a relevant code and then has an incident will find it hard to argue that it didn't know how to control the risk.

Which codes apply to you?

Start with the work you do, not the code titles. Codes are organised around hazards and activities, and a single job can touch several of them.

1. Find your regulator's list. Check which model codes are approved in your state or territory, and whether any local codes apply. Your regulator's website has the current list.
2. Match codes to your hazards. Use your risk register or hazard assessment to list the main risks. Common matches include:
   • Managing the risk of falls at workplaces for work at height
   • Construction work for building and civil sites. If your work is high-risk construction work, our guide to high-risk construction work in Australia explains the extra duties.
   • Hazardous manual tasks for lifting, carrying and repetitive handling
   • Managing risks of plant in the workplace for machinery and vehicles
   • Confined spaces for tanks, pits and other enclosed areas
   • How to manage work health and safety risks, which sets out the general risk process
3. Check the detail. Some codes are long. Read the sections that cover your work, and the sections that cover the risk controls, rather than the whole document.
4. Check for updates. Codes are reviewed and replaced. An out-of-date code can point you to controls that have since changed.

Each code in our legislation library has a short summary, so you can check whether it fits before you read the full document.

How to use a code in your business

A code is most useful when it changes what you do on the job. Work through it in this order:

1. Read the parts that apply. Note the hazards it describes, the controls it recommends and the training or records it expects.
2. Compare it with your current controls. Where your controls match the code, record that. Where they don't, decide whether to change your control or to justify the alternative.
3. Write it into your procedures. Put the code's controls into your risk assessment, your safe work method statements and your standard operating procedures. A SWMS needs to describe the controls and how they are put in place and checked, so the code's guidance belongs there. For the wider system that holds these procedures together, see our guide to safety management systems.
4. Train the people doing the work. A code isn't much use if the crew hasn't heard of it. Use it in inductions and toolbox talks.
5. Record your decisions. If you chose a different method from the code, write down why and how you checked it gives the same or better protection.
6. Review when the code changes. Set a reminder to check the codes that apply to you each year, and whenever a new one is approved.

Many codes also cover personal protective equipment as a last line of defence, after the higher controls. If you need PPE for a control, PPE from our supply partner is a practical place to start, but the choice of PPE should follow the code's guidance and your risk assessment.

How SafetyDocs helps

SafetyDocs has safe work method statements, SOPs, policies and management plans written by safety experts. They give you a structure for the controls, so you don't start from a blank page when you turn a code into a procedure. Job, client and site details fill themselves in, and workers can sign from a text, a link or a QR code on any phone, with no app or account.

The templates help you write procedures that cover your duties. They don't decide which codes apply to you, and they don't make you compliant on their own. Check each code with your regulator and adapt the procedure to your workplace.

Common questions

Do I have to follow every code of practice? Not every code applies to your business, but you do need to know which ones do. For each code that applies to your work, you must either follow it or be able to show that your alternative manages the risk at least as well.

Can a code of practice be used against me in court? Yes. An approved code is admissible in proceedings, so a court can look at it when deciding whether you met your duties. Following it helps your case. Ignoring it without a good reason usually hurts it.

Are codes the same in every state? The model codes are the same starting point, but each jurisdiction has to approve them. Victoria uses its own compliance codes under the Victorian OHS Act. Check the codes approved in your state or territory.

Where do I find the codes? Start with your state or territory WHS regulator's website, which lists the approved codes and links to them. Safe Work Australia publishes the model codes on its codes of practice page.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current law with your WHS regulator.