A safe and healthy workplace doesn’t just happen. Organisations and businesses need to plan and co-ordinate how work health and safety (WHS) will be managed. 

This includes: 

• having an effective safety management system
• with safe systems of work
• that are communicated to your workers.

Safe systems of work are methods, processes, systems that relate to: 

• how to perform work safely
• what to do if there is a workplace injury or incident including a near miss. 

Learn how to develop a safety management system with safe systems of work.

There are a range of ways your organisation can communicate safe systems of work to your workers, including:

• a WHS policy
• a safety management plan
• safe work method statements for certain types of work
• an emergency plan and procedures
• a system for responding to incidents.

Develop a WHS policy 

A WHS policy is a good way to: 

• show your commitment to work health and safety
• set out your requirements for what workers and others should do.  

It can include: 

• your commitment to ensuring the health and safety of your workers
• some key definitions relating to work health and safety
• the responsibilities of management in creating and maintaining workplace safety
• the expectations and obligations on workers to keep the workplace safe
• how you will consult with workers
• references to your WHS management plan
• the consequences for not following or breaching the policy. 

Your policy doesn’t need to identify every step you take in relation to workplace safety. It can refer people to where they can find more information about your safety management system (safety methods, processes or systems) or other safety issues.  

Develop a safety management plan 

A safety management plan identifies how work health and safety will be managed.  

You may have more than one plan depending on the type of work you are involved in. For example, you may have a plan for day-to-day operations and a separate plan for a particular creative project, event or festival that you are involved with. A safety management plan is particularly useful where more than one PCBU is working on a shared project.  

The content of your safety management plan will vary depending on the type of work and operation it intends to cover, but they generally cover: 

• the scope of the operation or project covered by the plan
• how work health and safety will be managed
• specific responsibilities and obligations of site managers or dedicated safety personnel
• specific responsibilities of workers and contractors
• how the risk assessment process applies to your operations – including a list of common hazards and risks and how those risks have been eliminated or controlled
• emergency procedures
• how workplace hazards and incidents and injuries should be reported
• who workers can talk to about safety — e.g. a nominated safety officer and providing their contact details including contact details
• consultation and communication arrangements
• how you will manage other work health and safety obligations relevant to the operations, including inductions, site entry, protective personal equipment, etc. 

A safety management plan should be documented. Keep records of safety management plans used in your business. 

Complete safe work method statements for certain types of work 

Safe work method statements are written instructions on how to perform certain types of work safely. They identify: 

• the hazards and risks associated with the work
• the risk controls to be implemented. 

Safe work method statements must be developed for certain types of work, such as high-risk activities like working at heights, operating forklifts or elevated platforms. This comes from state and territory work health and safety laws. 

Examples of high risk work in creative workplaces include: 

• rigging lights or sound systems at music festivals
• aerial performances suspended over an audience using wires. 

Be sure to document your safe work method statements. 

Learn more about high risk work.  

Develop an emergency plan and procedures 

This is always important, but especially if your work is audience or public facing. Make sure that workers and others can access your emergency plan. 

Be sure to document your emergency plans and procedures. 

Learn more about emergency safety planning.  

Develop a system for responding to incidents 

Put a system in place to help you respond to workplace incidents and to keep people safe. 

A workplace incident: 

• is an event that arises out of workplace activities
• causes harm to people or property or could cause harm (including near misses). 

You should: 

• set out worker obligations to report an incident
• tell workers how to report an incident, such as by telling a relevant manager in person, or by completing a particular form on the intranet
• set out the steps you will take in response to an incident. 

It should: 

• be in writing, such as a policy or plan
• be communicated and be accessible to workers
• contain information on when an incident must be reported to a WHS regulator. 

Learn more about dealing with a workplace incident. 

There are records you must keep in relation to work, health and safety incidents. Learn more about keeping safety records.