The main Act covering OHS in Victoria is the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The Act came into effect on July 1, 2005. Click on the items below for a summary of the main sections of OHS Act of relevance to workers and OHS reps.
The 2004 Act can be downloaded (in both pdf and word format) on the Victorian government legislation repository website. Hard or soft copies, or CD ROMs of the Victorian OHS Act and Regulations can now only be purchased from SAI Global (see the website for more information - to purchase the Act, click here). A 'word' copy can be downloaded here (version as at September, 2018)
More information
WorkSafe Victoria has produced a series of publications on the OHS Act. These include Information Sheets, Guides, and more. All of these can be downloaded from the OHS Act page on their website. Four useful publications are:
- Guide to the Act - provides a summary of the 2004 OHS Act (currently unavailable)
- Information for employees on health and safety - for employees, independent contractors and their employees (this is also available in several languages)
- About health and safety representatives - information for employees
- Information for health and safety representatives - for reps and deputies, explains their rights and powers, what to expect from the employer and where to go for help.
- Employee representation - an excellent resource for OHS reps, deputies, and workers wanting to know how to ensure they are represented. This is also very useful for employers who need to ensure they understand employees' rights to representation, and the powers and functions of reps.
Last amended February 2019
