WHS Compliance Guide

WHS Compliance Checklist for Small Business Australia

A practical guide for business owners in aged care, childcare, construction, food service, and allied health.

Why WHS compliance matters for small businesses

Under Australia's Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act, every business — no matter how small — has a legal duty to ensure the health and safety of workers and others at the workplace. Failing to meet these obligations can result in fines of up to $50,000 for businesses and personal liability for business owners.

Safe Work Australia and state-based regulators (WorkSafe, SafeWork NSW, WorkCover QLD, etc.) actively audit small businesses. The most common reason businesses fail audits isn't ignorance of the law — it's not being able to prove they've met their obligations.

WHS compliance checklist

Use this checklist as a starting point. Tick each item off and keep evidence — a document, a record, or a completed form — for every item.

1. Policies and procedures

  • WHS policy signed by management and communicated to all workers
  • Incident and injury reporting procedure in place
  • Emergency procedures documented and displayed
  • Hazard identification and risk management procedure
  • Return-to-work procedure for injured workers

2. Risk management

  • Workplace hazard register created and reviewed regularly
  • Risk assessments completed for high-risk tasks
  • Controls implemented to eliminate or minimise risks
  • Plant, equipment, and chemicals assessed and labelled
  • Manual handling risks assessed and addressed

3. Training and induction

  • All workers inducted before starting work
  • WHS training records kept for each employee
  • Workers trained on emergency procedures
  • Supervisors trained in their WHS responsibilities
  • Training reviewed when procedures change

4. Incident management

  • Incident register maintained and up to date
  • All incidents and near-misses reported and investigated
  • Notifiable incidents reported to the regulator immediately
  • Corrective actions tracked after each incident
  • First aid kits stocked and accessible

5. Worker consultation

  • Workers consulted on health and safety decisions that affect them
  • Health and Safety Representative (HSR) elected if requested by workers
  • WHS issues raised by workers recorded and responded to

The part most small businesses miss

Most small business owners know what they should be doing. The problem is turning policies into action — and being able to prove it when an auditor asks.

Auditors don't just want to see a policy document. They want to see that obligations were assigned to a responsible person, actioned by a due date, and recorded in an audit trail. That's the gap that causes businesses to fail audits even when they're genuinely trying to comply.

Turn your WHS policies into trackable actions

CompliAI reads your WHS policy documents, extracts every compliance obligation, and turns them into assigned tasks with due dates — so nothing gets missed and you always have an audit trail.

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State-specific WHS regulators in Australia

  • NSW: SafeWork NSW — safework.nsw.gov.au
  • VIC: WorkSafe Victoria — worksafe.vic.gov.au
  • QLD: Workplace Health and Safety Queensland — worksafe.qld.gov.au
  • WA: WorkSafe WA — worksafe.wa.gov.au
  • SA: SafeWork SA — safework.sa.gov.au
  • TAS: WorkSafe Tasmania — worksafe.tas.gov.au
  • ACT: WorkSafe ACT — worksafe.act.gov.au
  • NT: NT WorkSafe — worksafe.nt.gov.au