OH&S Regulations 1996

The Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (the OSH regulations) set minimum requirements for specific hazards, work and administrative practices in relation to work safety and health.

The Regulations deal with matters prescribed for the purposes of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984, workplace safety requirements, plant design and general duties applying to plant, hazardous substances, performance of high risk work, Australian and New Zealand Standards and guidelines and forms to be made available for persons working at workplaces.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984, there are two types of instruments to meet workplace health and safety obligations- regulations and codes of practice.

  • Regulations are legally enforced
  • Codes of Practice provide advice on how to meet regulatory requirements.

If there is a code of practice about a risk, you must either:

  • Perform what the code says; or
  • Adopt and use another method that gives the same level of protection against the risk

A free electronic copy of the Act and Regulations can be downloaded from The State Law Publisher. However, please note that this is not a legal document and such can not be used in a court of law.