The model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws require all employers to take care of the health and safety of their workers (staff, contractors, volunteers) and others (clients, customers and visitors) at the workplace.
This includes:
providing and maintaining a work environment that is without risk to health and safety; and
providing adequate facilities for staff to carry out their work.
Employers must identify risks at the workplace, and where possible eliminate or minimise those risks. The model WHS laws also place a duty on ‘officers’ to exercise due diligence to ensure that the employer complies with their duties or obligations under the model WHS Act.
In office work environment, an officer will include the director or secretary of a corporation, as well as the people who:
make, or participate in making, significant decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business, or
have the capacity to significantly affect the business' financial standing.
Where an officer is found to have breached the model WHS laws, they can be personally fined or imprisoned.
If your workplace has been determined an essential service by government and you are permitted to continue operating, you must ensure any risks to your workers are eliminated or minimised as much as is reasonably practicable.
Where possible, to eliminate the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 in the workplace, businesses may allow their workers to work from home in complete isolation from others. If it is not feasible for workers to perform their job from home, employers must do all that they can to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 so far as reasonably practicable.
For more Information about "Office Workers" click here
Australia is continuing to closely monitor the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). Cases of the COVID-19 virus are increasing in Australia and the situation is changing rapidly. You can access the latest information from australia.gov.au.
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