Work health and safety (WHS) clauses

A work health and safety (WHS) clause standardly requires the parties (or a specified party) to comply with their obligations under the relevant Commonwealth, state and/or territory WHS legislation in performing the agreement, and to ensure (or at least use reasonable endeavours to ensure) that their workers (including employees, contractors and subcontractors) do so as well. It may also establish a regime for the parties to coordinate and consult with each other in relation to, and report, any WHS matters that arise during the term of the agreement.

Authored by the LexisNexis Legal Writer team.

Purpose of clause

A work health and safety (WHS) clause standardly requires the parties (or a specified party) to comply with their obligations under the relevant Commonwealth, state and/or territory WHS legislation in performing the agreement, and to ensure (or at least use reasonable endeavours to ensure) that their workers (including employees, contractors and subcontractors) do so as well. It may also establish a regime for the parties to coordinate and consult with each other in relation to, and report, any WHS matters that arise during the term of the agreement.

As discussed further below (see WHS legislation), a failure to ensure appropriate WHS practices can lead to significant liabilities under WHS legislation, as well as liabilities to third parties (whether under contract, at law or otherwise). Accordingly, it may be appropriate to include a WHS clause in some business and commercial agreements to ensure that WHS risks are adequately assessed, managed and mitigated. This may be particularly relevant to:

• agreements for the supply of goods, services or other work where one party may be visiting or working on the other party’s premises; or
• joint venture agreements where one party may be performing services on premises jointly owned or controlled by the parties.