What law applies
In order to understand the workplace health and safety requirements for hospitality and entertainment, and your obligations under the law you must consider and understand relevant relevant legislation and codes of practice.
General health and safety obligationsWhat you must do
Specific codes of practice for the hospitality and entertainment industry
General health and safety obligations
To understand your obligations and safety requirements you must be familiar with the:
- Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 KB) which imposes obligations on people at workplaces to ensure workplace health and safety.
The Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 also helps you to meet your workplace health and safety obligations through the:
- Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 (PDF, 1 441 KB) which describes what must be done to prevent or control certain hazards which cause injury, illness or death
- codes of practice (or prior to 18 November 2004, advisory standards) which are designed to give practical advice about ways to manage exposure to risks common to industry.
Every Queensland employer must have workers’ compensation insurance. Most employers insure with WorkCover Queensland, while a small number of large organisations have their own insurance. This insurance coverage ensures that employees injured at work receive financial support.
What you must do
If the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 describes how to prevent or minimise a risk at your workplace you must do what the regulation says.
If there is a code of practice (or prior to 18 November 2004, an advisory standard) that describes how to prevent or minimise a risk at your workplace you must do what the code says or adopt and follow another way that gives the same level of protection against the risk.
If there is no regulation or code of practice about a risk at your workplace you must choose an appropriate way to manage exposure to the risk. People must, where there is no regulation or code of practice about a risk, take reasonable precautions and exercise proper diligence against the risk.
See the Risk Management Code of Practice 2007 for further information.
Specific Codes of Practice for the hospitality and entertainment industry
These are codes of practice that describe the main health and safety problems linked to the hospitality and entertainment industry and gives practical advice on how to address them:
- Cash in Transit 2001
- First Aid 2004
- HorseRidingSchools, Trail Riding Establishments and Horse Hiring Establishments 2002
- Noise 2004
- Occupational Diving Work 2005
- Compressed Air Recreational Diving and Recreational Snorkelling 2005
- Plant 2005
- Recreational Technical Diving 2001
- Risk Management 2007 including:
Where these risks exist at your workplace you must either:
- do what the code says, or
- adopt another way that identifies and manages exposure to the risk, and
- ensure you take reasonable precautions and exercise proper diligence.
Please note, from 18 November 2004 the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 was amended so that:
- all advisory standards that were in force on that day were continued as codes of practice and now expire 10 years after their commencement, and
- all existing industry codes of practice that were in force on that day now expire 10 years after their commencement.
Last updated 22 July 2008