Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 parliamentarians, MOP(S) Act employees and Finance share the responsibility for eliminating or minimising the risks connected with workplace bullying and harassment. All workers, including parliamentarians and MOP(S) Act employees, have a duty to take reasonable care that their behaviour does not affect their own health and safety, or that of other persons.
Finance as the PCBU’s WHS duties
Finance, on behalf of the Commonwealth, has duties of a persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) in relation to work undertaken at the Parliamentarian’s electorate office(s) and work undertaken by workers for the Parliamentarian at other locations. It is important to note there may be overlapping PCBUs in some MOP(S) Act employees’ workplaces. For example, the Department of Parliamentary Services also shares PCBU responsibilities for MOP(S) Act employees who work at Parliament House.
Parliamentarians WHS duties
Under the WHS Act parliamentarians have duties as an officer when they are undertaking a role relating to the employment or engagement of MoP(S) Act employees, as well as some duties as a worker.
MOP(S) Act employees WHS duties
Every MOP(S) Act employee has the duties of a worker under the WHS Act.
In certain circumstances, where a MOP(S) Act employee is authorised by a parliamentarian to make decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part of the parliamentarian’s representative work, the MOP(S) Act employee may also have the duties of an officer.