Work Health and Safety (WHS) policies are formal, written documents that outline your organisation’s commitment to managing workplace hazards and protecting the health and wellbeing of every person who steps onto your worksite. A compliant WHS framework typically includes a general health and safety policy, emergency procedures, acceptable use policies, and specific hazard-control rules tailored to your industry.
If you’re reading this because you’re not sure whether your policies are up to scratch, or because you don’t have them at all, you’re in the right place. Below, you’ll find a checklist of the exact policies required for employers, a five-step template to write your own, and a printable list of the top workplace safety rules you can share with your team today.
Updated for 2026: This guide reflects the latest amendments to the model WHS Act, strengthened psychosocial hazard obligations, and NSW’s new Digital Work Systems requirements for AI and automated systems in the workplace.
What WHS Policies Do I Need as an Employer?
This is the question we hear most often from business owners and HR managers, and the answer is more straightforward than most people expect. At a minimum, most Australian employers are legally required to maintain four foundational WHS policies:
- General Health and Safety Policy – your overarching commitment to providing a safe workplace, signed by leadership.
- Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy – covering bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and expected standards of behaviour.
- Emergency Management Procedures – including evacuation plans, first aid protocols, and emergency contact lists.
- Hazard Reporting and Risk Management Protocols – a documented process for workers to identify, report, and escalate hazards.
These four documents form what we call the “Minimum Viable Compliance” set. If your business operates in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, or any industry with elevated physical or psychosocial risks, you’ll likely need additional policies covering specific hazards, personal protective equipment (PPE), working at heights, or psychosocial risk management.
The Minimum Viable Compliance Checklist
Use this checklist to audit your current policy set. If you can’t tick every box, you’ve found your starting point.
- Written General Health and Safety Policy, signed by the CEO or business owner
- Policy reviewed and updated within the last 12 months
- Code of Conduct covering bullying, harassment, and discrimination
- Emergency evacuation plan displayed in common areas
- First aid procedures and trained first aiders identified
- Hazard reporting procedure documented and accessible to all workers
- Risk assessment register maintained and current
- Psychosocial hazard identification and control measures documented
- Workers have confirmed receipt and understanding of all policies (signed acknowledgement)
- Policies are accessible in the languages spoken by your workforce
What to Do Right Now
- Locate your current General Safety Policy and check the date. If it hasn’t been reviewed in the past 12 months, it’s overdue.
- Identify the one missing policy from the “Essential 4” list above. That’s your priority.
- Move to the next section to draft your missing policy using our five-step template.
Need help? Our WHS Compliance Plan guide helps you to understand what policies are needed.
What Are the 5 Key Areas of a Good Health and Safety Policy?
A legally compliant and genuinely effective WHS policy isn’t just a document that sits in a drawer. It’s a working tool that tells your team exactly what the business commits to, who is responsible for what, and how hazards are managed day-to-day.
Every WHS policy should cover these five key areas:
1. Statement of Commitment
This is your organisation’s formal declaration that workplace health and safety is a priority. It should be specific to your business, not a generic template lifted from the internet. Name your industry, acknowledge your key hazards, and state the standard you’re aiming for.
Template prompt: “[Business Name] is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all workers, contractors, and visitors. We recognise that [industry-specific hazards] are present in our operations and will manage these risks so far as is reasonably practicable.”
2. Employer Responsibilities
This section details what the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) will do. Under the WHS Act, this includes providing safe systems of work, maintaining equipment, providing training and supervision, consulting with workers on safety matters, and ensuring compliance with relevant Codes of Practice.
3. Employee Responsibilities
Workers have duties too. This section should clearly state that employees must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, follow reasonable instructions, use PPE as directed, and report hazards and incidents immediately. The language here matters — use “must” rather than “should.”
4. Hazard Reporting and Risk Management Procedures
Your policy needs to spell out the exact process for identifying, reporting, assessing, and controlling hazards. Who does the worker report to? What form do they use? How quickly must the report be actioned? What happens after control measures are implemented? This section should leave no room for ambiguity.
5. Review, Sign-off, and Version Control
A policy without a signature is a suggestion. Every WHS policy must be signed by the most senior person in the business — the CEO, managing director, or business owner. Include a review date (at minimum, annually), a version number, and a record of who approved the document.
Common Mistakes That Undermine Your Policy
- Using “should” instead of “must” – vague language weakens enforceability and creates loopholes during investigations.
- Burying reporting procedures – if a worker can’t find the hazard reporting process within 30 seconds, it’s not accessible enough.
- No leadership signature – an unsigned policy signals that safety isn’t taken seriously at the top. Regulators notice.
- Ignoring psychosocial hazards – since the 2023 amendments and further strengthening in 2025, failing to address stress, bullying, workload, and burnout is a compliance gap that regulators are actively targeting.
Try this now: Open a blank document, paste the five subheadings above, and fill in the “Statement of Commitment” section for your business. Getting started is the hardest part.
What Are the Most Important General Safety Rules? (10 Golden Rules)
Every workplace needs a clear, enforceable set of safety rules that every worker understands from their first day. The challenge isn’t finding rules — it’s distilling them into a list that’s short enough to remember and comprehensive enough to matter.
These 10 rules cover the fundamentals that apply across most Australian workplaces, grouped into three categories for easy reference.
Personal Safety
- Maintain situational awareness at all times. Know the hazards in your immediate work area before starting any task.
- Wear prescribed PPE without exception. If it’s required for the task, it’s non-negotiable — no shortcuts, no excuses.
- Never work under the influence. Drugs and alcohol impair judgement. Report any concerns about a co-worker’s fitness for duty immediately.
- Follow manual handling procedures. Lift correctly, use mechanical aids where available, and never exceed safe load limits.
Equipment Safety
- Only operate equipment you are trained and authorised to use. Licences, tickets, and inductions exist for a reason.
- Inspect tools and equipment before each use. Tag out and remove from service anything that’s damaged or defective.
- Keep work areas clean and organised. Housekeeping prevents slips, trips, and falls — Australia’s most common workplace injuries.
Reporting
- Report every hazard immediately. No hazard is too small to report. A near-miss today is an injury tomorrow.
- Report all injuries and incidents — no matter how minor. Early reporting protects the worker and the business.
- Never bypass a safety procedure to save time. If a task can’t be done safely within the timeframe, stop and speak up.
How to Roll These Rules Out
Printing a poster isn’t enough. To make safety rules stick, introduce them through structured Toolbox Talks or morning briefings. Here’s a realistic implementation timeline:
- Week 1: Post the rules in common areas, send a company-wide email, and deliver a verbal briefing at the next team meeting or Toolbox Talk.
- Week 2–3: Dedicate each Toolbox Talk to one category (Personal Safety, Equipment Safety, Reporting). Use real examples from your worksite.
- Week 4: Conduct a compliance audit. Are workers wearing PPE correctly? Are hazard reports being submitted? Measure what matters.
What Are the 4 Types of Workplace Policies?
Not every workplace policy is a WHS policy, and understanding the distinction matters — both for compliance and for how you structure your policy library. Workplace policies generally fall into four categories:
| Policy Type | Purpose | Examples | Legal Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulatory / Compliance (WHS) | Protect health and safety of workers and others | General WHS Policy, Hazard Management, Emergency Procedures, Psychosocial Risk | Highest – enforced by WHS regulators with significant penalties |
| Human Resources | Govern employment conditions and workplace behaviour | Code of Conduct, Leave Policies, Anti-Discrimination, Performance Management | High – enforceable under Fair Work Act and anti-discrimination legislation |
| Administrative | Manage systems, access, and use of resources | IT Acceptable Use, Internet/Email Policy, Data Security, BYOD Policy | Moderate – contractual enforceability; supports WHS where equipment intersects with safety |
| Operational | Standardise work processes | Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Quality Assurance, Procurement Procedures | Variable – depends on regulatory context; critical in high-risk industries |
The critical distinction: while HR and Administrative policies govern how your team works, WHS policies govern how your team stays safe while working. WHS policies carry the highest legal liability, with penalties under the model WHS Act reaching up to $3 million for body corporates and $600,000 for individual officers, plus the potential for imprisonment in Category 1 offences involving reckless conduct.
It’s also worth noting that Acceptable Use Policies (IT, equipment, mobile phones) often overlap with safety. A mobile phone policy, for example, is an administrative policy on its face, but it becomes a WHS matter the moment it intersects with operating machinery or driving a vehicle.
WHS Responsibilities: Employer vs. Employee
One of the most common points of confusion in WHS is who is responsible for what. The short answer: both the employer and the employee have distinct legal duties, but the primary duty of care sits firmly with the PCBU.
| Employer (PCBU) Responsibilities | Employee (Worker) Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Provide and maintain a safe working environment, including safe plant, structures, and systems of work | Take reasonable care for their own health and safety while at work |
| Identify hazards, assess risks, and implement control measures using the hierarchy of controls | Take reasonable care that their actions or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of others |
| Provide adequate information, training, instruction, and supervision | Comply with reasonable instructions given by the PCBU |
| Consult with workers on WHS matters that affect them | Use PPE in accordance with training and instructions |
| Monitor the health of workers and conditions at the workplace | Report hazards, incidents, and near-misses immediately |
| Maintain and review WHS policies, procedures, and risk assessments | Cooperate with any reasonable WHS policy or procedure |
| Ensure compliance with current WHS legislation, Regulations, and Codes of Practice | Participate in WHS training and induction as required |
When an Employee Refuses to Sign a Policy or Follow a Safety Rule
This is a situation many employers face, and how you handle it matters. Here’s the recommended approach:
- Document the refusal in writing, including the date, time, and the specific policy or rule the employee refused to comply with.
- Investigate the reason for refusal. Is it a genuine concern about the policy’s practicality or safety? Workers have the right to cease unsafe work under the WHS Act.
- Provide additional training or clarification. Often, refusal stems from misunderstanding rather than defiance.
- Follow your disciplinary procedure. If the refusal persists after reasonable steps, this may constitute a breach of the employee’s duty under s 28 of the WHS Act. Ensure you follow procedural fairness and document every step. For assistance, please contact Fair Workplace Solutions for disciplinary action for employees.
Important: Dismissing a worker for refusing to comply with a safety rule without following proper process can result in an unfair dismissal claim. Get advice from a WHS lawyer before escalating disciplinary action.
WHS Policy Updates to Watch in 2026
- Psychosocial hazards are now explicitly enforceable across most jurisdictions. If your WHS policies don’t address stress, bullying, workload pressure, fatigue, and poor role clarity as identifiable hazards with documented controls, you have a compliance gap.
- NSW’s Digital Work Systems Act now requires PCBUs to manage safety risks arising from AI, algorithms, automated decision-making tools, and digital platforms that allocate or monitor work. If your business uses roster software, performance tracking tools, or AI-assisted workflows, review whether your WHS policies account for these systems.
- Codes of Practice carry greater legal weight from 1 July 2026. PCBUs will need to comply with approved Codes of Practice unless they can demonstrate they’re managing risks to an equivalent or higher standard. Review your policies against the relevant Codes now.
- Expanded incident notification requirements – employers must now report violent incidents, work-related suicides or attempts, and absences of 15 or more days due to work-related injury or illness. Update your incident reporting procedures to capture these.
Need Help Getting Your WHS Policies Right?
If you’re unsure whether your current policies meet the standard, or if you need help drafting compliant WHS documentation from scratch, Fair Workplace Solutions can help. We work with employers across Australia to build practical, legally sound WHS frameworks that protect your business and your people.
Contact Fair Workplace Solutions today to book a WHS policy review or to discuss your compliance obligations, we provide a complete range of WHS compliance services that can assist you.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is general in nature and is not intended to constitute legal advice. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal or workplace health and safety advice tailored to your specific circumstances. Fair Workplace Solutions recommends that employers seek independent legal advice before making decisions about WHS compliance, disciplinary action, or policy implementation.