Obligation to carry out Health Monitoring under the Work Health and Safety Laws
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Health monitoring is the monitoring of a person’s health to identify changes in their health status as a result of exposure to certain substances. Health monitoring is important for workers who work with hazardous substances, such as lead, asbestos, crystalline silica, and chemicals.
A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has a legal obligation to provide health monitoring to their workers who carry out work involving hazardous substances and there is a significant risk to the workers’ health. PCBUs must:
- Ensure health monitoring is carried out by or under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner with experience in health monitoring;
- Pay costs of health monitoring;
- Obtain health monitoring reports from the registered medical practitioner;
- Provide the health monitoring report to the worker as soon as practicable;
- Provide the report to the regulator (e.g. WorkSafe ACT) if the health monitoring report indicates that the worker may have contracted an injury or illness resulted from working with hazardous substances; and
- Retain health monitoring records for at least 30 years.
Some codes of practice may provide guidance on when and the frequency of health monitoring should be carried out. Below are some of the codes of practice:
Silica Dust Code of Practice 2024
Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2022
Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2022
Need assistance?
The MBA Workplace Relations and Legal team can assist you and provide you with guidance on how to comply with your work health and safety obligations. You can reach the team on (02) 6175 5000.
