White Card key terms

The New South Wales law that sets out the duties of employers, workers and others to protect health and safety at work, and provides for enforcement, notices and penalties.

The legal label for an organisation or individual that runs a business or undertaking, whether or not for profit, and that owes the main work health and safety duties under the NSW Act.

The PCBU's core obligation to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of other people whose safety is affected by the business.

A test weighing the likelihood and severity of harm against what is known about the risk, the availability and cost of ways to remove it, and other relevant circumstances, before deciding what control is required.

The personal duty of company directors and senior managers to keep up to date with work health and safety matters, understand hazards and risks, and ensure the business has and uses proper resources and processes.

The obligation on every worker to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others, to follow instructions and training, and to report hazards and incidents rather than ignore them.

A worker elected by their work group to represent them on health and safety matters, who can raise issues with the PCBU, request information and in some cases direct work to stop.

A grouping of workers established for health and safety consultation, usually by agreement between the PCBU and workers, that elects its own health and safety representative.

The two-way process in which the PCBU shares relevant information with workers, gives them a reasonable chance to give their views, and takes those views into account before deciding on health and safety matters.

A joint body of management and worker representatives set up to help develop and review health and safety policies and procedures and to discuss issues raised by workers.

Anything with the potential to cause harm to people, property or the environment, such as an unguarded machine, a live wire, an unstable stack or a slippery floor.

The chance that a hazard will actually cause harm, considered together with how serious that harm could be, so that controls can be matched to the level of danger.

A structured look at a task or workplace to identify hazards, judge how likely and how serious the harm is, and decide what controls are needed and whether they are working.

The ranked order of control measures, from eliminating the hazard at the top, through substitution, engineering and administrative controls, down to personal protective equipment as the last line of defence.

The most effective control: removing the hazard completely, for example by designing out a task, removing asbestos before work starts or prefabricating components off site.

Replacing a hazardous substance, plant or process with a less dangerous alternative, such as swapping a solvent-based product for a water-based one or using a lighter block.

A control that changes how people work rather than removing the hazard, such as rotation, signage, permits, training, exclusion zones and procedures; it relies on human behaviour to work.

Clothing and equipment worn to reduce exposure to hazards, such as helmets, boots, gloves, eye protection, hearing protection and high-visibility garments; it protects only the wearer and is the last resort.

Garments in fluorescent colours with reflective bands that make the wearer easier to see, especially around moving plant, vehicles and low-light or night work.

Equipment such as a harness, lanyard and anchor point that stops a person's fall once it has begun, rather than preventing the fall in the first place.

Any work where a person could fall from one level to another and be injured, including work on ladders, roofs, scaffolds and edges, and even some work at ground level.

A temporary structure of standards, ledgers and platforms that gives workers a safe standing surface at height; it must be erected by competent people and inspected before use.

Any dug hole or trench in the ground; it is a major hazard because walls can collapse, and it also risks hitting buried services, flooding and falls into the opening.

The caving in of the sides of an excavation, which can bury or crush workers in seconds; it is prevented by battering, shoring or shielding and by keeping spoil and plant back from the edge.

Buried pipes, cables or conduits such as gas, water, electricity or telecommunications; they must be located and marked before digging to avoid striking and damaging them.

The procedure of switching off and physically locking or tagging an energy source so plant cannot be started or energised while people work on or near it.

Any machinery, equipment, appliance, container, implement or tool used at work, including cranes, excavators, power tools and scaffolds, all of which must be safe and properly maintained.

Someone with the training, qualifications, experience and knowledge needed to carry out a particular task safely and correctly, such as inspecting scaffolding or operating an excavator.

A written document that sets out the high-risk construction work to be done, the hazards involved, the controls to be used and how those controls will be monitored and reviewed.

Construction tasks listed in the regulations as especially dangerous, such as work at height over two metres, demolition, excavation deeper than 1.5 metres and work near live services, which require a SWMS.

A marked area that only authorised people may enter, used to keep workers away from hazards such as falling objects, moving plant, crane loads or open excavations.

The formal record a worker makes when they see something unsafe, so the issue is logged, assessed and fixed and can be tracked until it is closed out.

A death, serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident such as a collapse or an uncontrolled escape of energy, that the PCBU must report to the regulator immediately.

The documented arrangements for getting people out safely in an emergency, covering alarms, escape routes, assembly points, wardens and drills to practise the response.

The immediate care given to an injured or ill person before professional help arrives, supported by trained first aiders, stocked kits and clear access to medical assistance.

A worker's ability to stop or decline a task they reasonably believe is unsafe, and to raise it without being penalised, with the issue then assessed and resolved.

Repeated unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker that creates a risk to health and safety, such as humiliation, threats or exclusion, and which must be reported and addressed.