Summary of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
A handbook for workplaces (Edition No. 3 March 2025).
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Aim of the summary
This booklet provides a summary of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act).
It gives a summary of duties and rights under the OHS Act to all people who have health and safety duties or roles, including:
employers
self-employed people
people who manage or control workplaces
employees
independent contractors
health and safety representatives
suppliers, designers and manufacturers.
While this summary was written to help people understand what the OHS Act requires of them, it is not a legal document or a replacement for the OHS Act. People should read this booklet together with the OHS Act.
To help readers, there are cross-references to specific sections of the OHS Act after each heading in the summary (for example, section 21, sections 91–94).
The glossary includes definitions from the OHS Act and other useful terms and abbreviations used in this summary.