Most OHS Acts in Australia have incorporated duties for persons in control of a workplace.170 Those that do not have such a duty for persons in control of a workplace instead place duties on occupiers and owners of a workplace. However framed, the duty requires persons with actual or (in the case of the owner) assumed control over the condition of the workplace to ensure that the workplace, including the means of entering and exiting, are safe and without risks to health. Queensland has introduced additional duties for persons in control of workplace areas, and for fittings, fixtures and plant in a workplace area.171
Half of the OHS Acts with a duty for persons in control specifically state that the duties are owed to persons other than the duty holder’s own employees.172 Two jurisdictions state that the duties do not apply to domestic premises.173
New South Wales and WA have provisions in their OHS Acts for the duty of a person in control of a workplace to also be owed where a person has, by virtue of a contract or lease, an obligation to any extent in relation to the maintenance or repair of a workplace.174 Conversely, the Qld Act allows for the duty to pass from an owner to another where there is lease, contract or other arrangement which provides, or has the effect of providing, for the other person to have effective and sustained control of the workplace.175
The majority of OHS Acts also contain a duty for persons in control of plant. Three jurisdictions have also included a duty for persons in control of substances.176 Only the ACT Act includes a duty for persons in control of systems, and has also used the approach for upstream duties (e.g. person in control of design).
The ASCC has used ‘person in control’ provisions in recent National Standards (such as Manual Tasks, Construction Work and Control of Major Hazard Facilities).
