Work Health and Safety and Legal/Ethical Compliance
Core concepts
Candidates need a working knowledge of work health and safety (WHS) duties: everyone has a duty to take reasonable care, workers must follow safe systems of work, report hazards and incidents, and use personal protective equipment. Know risk management (identify, assess, control, review), the hierarchy of control (eliminate, substitute, isolate, engineer, administrate, PPE), manual handling, infection control, emergency procedures, incident reporting and workplace bullying and fatigue. Legal and ethical content includes duty of care, negligence, privacy and confidentiality, consent and capacity, mandatory reporting, codes of conduct, boundaries, conflicts of interest and whistleblower protections.
Traps in questions
A common trap is choosing PPE as the first control when elimination or substitution is possible; PPE is the last line. Another is treating a near miss as not reportable; near misses must be recorded. Questions on consent often test that consent must be informed, voluntary and specific, and that capacity is decision-specific. Watch for options that share client information with family without consent, or that accept gifts that create a boundary breach. Ethical dilemmas usually have a policy or supervisor pathway; choosing to 'sort it out privately' is rarely correct.
Rule of thumb
For any safety scenario: make the situation safe, report it, then review. For any ethical scenario: check the code of conduct, the law and your supervisor, and document your reasoning.
Worked example
A worker notices a frayed hoist sling. Correct action: stop using it, tag it out, report to the supervisor and record the hazard, rather than continuing with extra care.