the duty of care provisions together impose duties on all persons who by their conduct may cause, or contribute in a specified way, to risks to the health or safety of any person from the conduct of a business or undertaking;
the duties of care are focused on the undertaking of work and activities that contribute to its being done, and are not limited to the workplace (except where a duty relates specifically to the workplace or things within it, or the limitation is needed to place reasonable limits on the duty – e.g. the duty of care of a worker or visitor);
there is a primary (general) duty of care imposed on the person conducting a business or undertaking (whether as an employer, self-employed person, principal contractor or otherwise) for the health and safety of:
‘workers’ within an expanded definition; and
others who may be put at a risk to their health or safety by the conduct of the business or undertaking; and
even though many of the following persons will be covered by the primary duty of care of a person conducting a business or undertaking, for certainty and to provide guidance through more detailed requirements, duties of care should be imposed on specified classes of duty holders who are involved in the undertaking of work or activities that contribute to it being done, or are present when work is being done. These are:
This chapter deals with concept of ‘reasonably practicable’ and its application to the primary duty and to a number of specific duties (except those of officers, workers and others). We discuss how reasonably practicable is used as a qualifier of the duties of care and how it is defined, including its relationship to risk management principles and the issue of control.
