Why should a Body Corporate maintain a Health and Safety plan?
Why have an H&S plan? Because it's the law.
A Body Corporate is specifically defined as a PCBU in S17 and S18 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). The HSWA also states that a PCBU must maintain a Health and Safety plan and details all of the other mandatory requirements required of a PCBU under the provisions of the Act.
If you don't know what a PCBU is, you probably should read the HSWA. The term is fundamental to the legislation. You will find it here
Isn't it overkill for a BC to have a Health & Safety plan?
Some might say that for a BC to maintain a Health and Safety plan is overkill. After all, it's a benign environment and nothing like a building site or a forestry operation.
They might be correct. But it doesn't matter. At the moment, it is the law. More importantly, the legislation is overseen by WorkSafe, and if you know anything about WorkSafe, you will know they don't take prisoners.
But if you're still not convinced, take a look at S49, which is just one Section that lists just some of the fines for non-compliance.
Then you have to ask, are you ready to accept the liability that comes with contravening the legislation when you're just a volunteer officer of the BC?
Don't shoot the messenger
Don't shoot the messenger. I tend to agree that it's nanny state oversight. But it is what it is.
If you're a BC chair or committee member and you don't have an H&S plan, get one ASAP.
Updated 13 May 2025 JB
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The Plan Heaven team.
Disclaimer. Plan Heaven is not qualified in law and any comments made on this website are only the opinion of Plan Heaven and should not be regarded as legal advice. Our comments are merely providing some thoughts on how the legislation might be interpreted and how we go about attempting to meet its requirements. You should not rely on this information in isolation and do you own homework and at all times if you wish to be sure of your position relating to legal matters you should seek advice from a suitably qualified lawyer.