What is duty of care?
What is duty of care?
Simply, it means that both workers and employers have a legal duty to take reasonable care to:
- Ensure their own safety and health at work and
- Avoid affecting the safety or health of another person through an act (something they do) or omission (something they don’t do)
How?
Joe is watching his workmate Mick lift a box of tools and knows that he is not following safe practices. Joe can see that Mick risks hurting his back in the way he is trying to move the toolbox.
Joe has a duty of care to warn Mick about this risk and to help him move the toolbox safely.
Mick is tired after just finishing night shift. His wife is sick and he hasn’t been able to speak to her, so he’s worried about her. He just wants to pack up the tools as fast as he can and get back to his donga to call her and then get some sleep. Mick has a duty of care to himself.
Both Mick and Joe have a responsibility to their employer to work safely. It’s their duty of care. They also have a responsibility to be fit for work. That’s also part of their duty of care.
Mick and Joe’s employer also has a duty of care: to provide Mick and Joe with the necessary training; to provide the tools and equipment necessary; to provide food and accommodation that is hygienic and safe; to create a workplace that is fair and inclusive. All this is part of the employer’s duty of care.
Other responsibilities: Discrimination and Privacy
Australian and WA laws make it illegal to discriminate if someone has a temporary or permanent disability, including a mental illness. Employers have a responsibility to make reasonable adjustments to meet employees’ needs when they have a mental health issue.
Privacy laws require that personal information about a worker’s mental health status is not disclosed to anyone without the worker’s consent.
Find out more on the Department of Commerce website.