An Occupational Health and Safety Policy is a written commitment that shows how your business protects people from harm at work. It sets out your goals, your responsibilities, and your expectations. If you want ISO 45001 certification in Australia, you need a policy that reflects your legal duties and how your business actually operates.
This article will help you write that policy. You will learn what to include, what standards to follow, who is responsible for what, and how to keep your policy useful over time.
1. Understand the Purpose of the Policy
Before you begin drafting, you need to know why an Occupational Health and Safety Policy exists in the first place. It is your formal commitment to preventing harm, meeting your obligations, and setting a clear direction for safety at work. A strong policy gives your team a reason to take safety seriously and gives you a structure to manage risks with purpose.
Here’s what your policy should address from the start.
Meet Legal and Regulatory Obligations
Australian businesses must comply with health and safety legislation at both national and state levels. That includes the Work Health and Safety Act, associated regulations, and any industry-specific codes of practice. These laws require you to manage risks, consult with workers, and provide a safe work environment.
Your Occupational Health and Safety Policy must reflect these duties. You need to state clearly that your business understands its legal responsibilities and takes them seriously. Your policy also needs to show that you follow a systematic approach to health and safety based on international standards.
Benefit Your Employees and the Organisation
A well-written policy protects people. It reduces injuries, lowers the chance of disruption, and supports a safer, more stable workplace. That means fewer absences, fewer claims, and less stress across your teams.
It also helps your business. Clients, insurers, and auditors expect to see documented safety systems. Your policy shows that you take risk management seriously. If you use safety management software, it helps you track and report against the policy, keeping it active rather than forgotten.
Align with Company Values and Culture
Your policy should sound like your business. Avoid copying generic templates that do not match how you actually work. Instead, write in a tone and structure that reflects your values, how you treat people, and how you expect them to behave on site.
If your company values safety, accountability, and respect, your policy should say that. If you rely on teamwork, your policy should show how roles and responsibilities are shared. When your policy matches your culture, people are more likely to read it, understand it, and follow it.
2. Identify Legal Requirements and Standards
You need to base your Occupational Health and Safety Policy on the rules that apply to your business. These rules include legislation, codes of practice, and recognised international standards. If your policy misses or misinterprets these, it loses its value. It may also expose you to fines, liability, or enforcement action.
The law expects you to do more than show intent. It expects you to follow through. To meet your obligations, start with the following steps.
Review National and State Legislation
The Work Health and Safety Act applies in most parts of Australia. It outlines what you must do to provide a safe working environment. Each state or territory has its own regulator. Some areas have slight differences in how the laws are enforced or applied.
You need to identify which laws apply to your business location and operations. If you operate across borders, your policy must reflect all relevant jurisdictions. This includes not only the Act but also the Work Health and Safety Regulations, which give more detail about duties, controls, and procedures.
Consult Codes of Practice and Industry-Specific Guidelines
Safe Work Australia publishes codes of practice that explain how to meet your legal duties. They cover common hazards such as manual handling, working at heights, and chemical safety. These codes are not optional. You must follow them unless you can demonstrate a better way to achieve the same or a higher level of safety.
In high-risk industries, such as construction, manufacturing, or transport, you may also need to meet extra requirements. Industry bodies often publish their own guidelines. These reflect the real risks faced on the ground. Use these documents to shape the content of your policy so that it remains specific, not general.
Understand Obligations Under ISO 45001
If your business works to ISO 45001, the international standard for occupational health and safety, you need to align your policy with its structure. ISO 45001 requires top management to show leadership, commit to continual improvement, and integrate safety into every part of the business.
The standard expects your policy to include a clear statement of intent, a commitment to meet legal requirements, and a framework for setting and reviewing objectives.
Your policy is more than a document. It is your legal and operational foundation. Start with the right references, and the rest of your system has something solid to stand on.
3. Define Scope and Applicability
Before you write specific commitments or outline procedures, you need to define who and what the policy covers. Your Occupational Health and Safety Policy must speak to the right people in the right settings. It must also make clear what roles and responsibilities they carry.
This section should answer three key questions: Who does the policy apply to? What activities and areas are covered? What responsibilities apply to different groups?
Outline Who the Policy Applies To
Start by identifying every person the policy covers. This includes permanent employees, part-time staff, contractors, labour hire workers, volunteers, apprentices, and work experience placements. You should also include any person whose work is influenced or directed by your business.
Make it clear that safety is not just a matter for staff. Your duty extends to anyone on your premises or affected by your operations. This includes suppliers, clients, delivery drivers, and service providers.
Specify Work Areas, Activities, and Roles Covered
Define the physical and operational scope of the policy. This includes offices, warehouses, worksites, vehicles, and mobile locations. Mention activities that involve physical work, site visits, equipment use, remote work, and office-based tasks.
You also need to think about role-based risk. For example, your administrative staff may face low physical risk but require clear guidance on workstation setup and emergency procedures. In contrast, field staff may need detailed procedures for working at height, using machinery, or dealing with hazardous substances like asbestos or welding fumes.
State which types of work or locations are included. If some are excluded, explain why and how they are managed separately.
Clarify Responsibilities for Employees, Contractors, and Visitors
Responsibility sits differently depending on the person’s role and relationship to your business.
- Employees must follow safety procedures, report hazards, use personal protective equipment, and take reasonable care of themselves and others. They must also cooperate with training, audits, and investigations.
- Contractors must meet your business’s safety requirements as well as their own legal obligations. They must submit required documentation before starting work and follow agreed safety controls while on site.
- Visitors must follow the instructions given to them by authorised personnel. This includes signing in, staying within designated areas, and reporting any hazards or incidents they observe.
Make sure your policy gives everyone a clear sense of their responsibilities. No one should be unsure about whether the policy applies to them or what it requires them to do.
4. Establish Roles and Responsibilities
Everyone has a role to play in creating a safe workplace. That role must be clear, specific, and matched to a person’s authority and ability to act. A well-written policy removes any doubt about who is responsible for what. When you definw responsibilities correctly, you meet your legal obligations and build the structure needed to pass an ISO 45001 audit.
Below is a breakdown of how to assign roles and responsibilities within your Occupational Health and Safety Policy.
Assign Accountability to Senior Management
Senior management carry the final responsibility for workplace safety. They must allocate resources, approve procedures, review outcomes, and lead by example. The Managing Director or CEO must sign the policy. That signature confirms that your business accepts full responsibility for providing a safe and healthy workplace.
Directors and senior managers must:
- Approve safety objectives and targets
- Review health and safety performance at planned intervals
- Provide adequate training, tools, and time to meet safety requirements
- Ensure the policy remains relevant and up to date
Accountability starts at the top and flows down through the business.
Define the Roles of Supervisors and Team Leaders
Supervisors and team leaders translate strategy into action. They ensure their team follows safety procedures. Their responsibilities include:
- Monitoring safe work practices daily
- Conducting toolbox talks or pre-start meetings
- Checking that risk assessments are completed
- Making sure workers understand and follow procedures
- Reporting incidents, near misses, or non-conformances immediately
Their role connects frontline work with management oversight. They identify hazards and apply controls. They also report issues to management and take part in investigations. If someone is not following safe practices, supervisors must step in.
Clarify Employee Responsibilities
Every employee has a duty to keep themselves and others safe. They must follow procedures, wear protective equipment, and report unsafe conditions. They must also participate in training and raise concerns when something is unclear or wrong.
The policy should list the following expectations for employees:
- Work in line with health and safety procedures
- Use tools and equipment safely and correctly
- Wear required personal protective equipment
- Report hazards, incidents, or injuries as soon as possible
- Cooperate with investigations and safety reviews
By making roles and responsibilities clear, you set the foundation for a system that protects people, meets your legal duties, and strengthens your safety culture.
5. Develop Health and Safety Objectives
Clear objectives give direction to your safety efforts. They tell people what they are working towards and help you measure progress. Objectives must be practical and relevant to the risks in your workplace. They also show your commitment to continuous improvement.
When writing this part of your Occupational Health and Safety Policy, use the points below to guide your thinking.
Set Clear, Measurable Safety Goals
Start with goals that you can track. Avoid vague statements. Instead of saying you want to “improve safety,” set a target like “reduce manual handling injuries by 30 percent within 12 months.” Define what success looks like, who is responsible, and how you will measure results. Goals that are specific and measurable are easier to monitor, review, and report.
Examples include:
- Reduce lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) by a fixed percentage
- Complete 100 percent of scheduled safety training within a set timeframe
- Close all corrective actions from incident reports within 14 days
Tie each goal to a real outcome that improves safety for your workers.
Align Objectives with Risk Assessment Outcomes
Your risk assessment highlights where harm is most likely to occur. Use that information to set your safety objectives. If working at heights presents the highest risk, then one of your goals should address that hazard. This alignment makes your safety efforts more relevant and effective.
For example, if your assessment identifies a risk of falls from ladders, an objective could be:
- Replace all portable ladders with platform ladders in the next quarter
- Train all staff in ladder safety by the end of the month
- Conduct monthly inspections of fall prevention equipment
The risk assessment shapes your priorities. Your objectives must respond to those risks.
Include Targets for Continuous Improvement
A safety management system must keep evolving. That means your objectives must include a forward-looking element. You are fixing known issues and lifting your standard over time.
Set targets that build on previous results:
- Increase the number of safety observations logged by staff each month
- Review and update all safe work procedures annually
- Introduce a new safety leadership program within six months
These targets help you stay ahead of hazards. They also create a structure for improving safety culture year after year. By setting goals that are clear, risk-based, and focused on improvement, you create a policy that results in compliance and practical outcomes.
6. Incorporate Risk Management Commitments
Your Occupational Health and Safety Policy must include strong commitments to managing risks. These commitments demonstrate that you are serious about preventing harm before it happens. They also provide clear direction to your team about how to deal with hazards at work.
To build this section, focus on how you will identify, control and review risks.
Refer to Risk Identification and Assessment Processes
Start by stating your commitment to identifying and assessing risks across all areas of the business. Make it clear that you will assess tasks, equipment, work environments and changes in operations.
Use a structured approach. Commit to reviewing tasks regularly, consulting with workers, and using tools like job safety analysis, incident reports and workplace inspections. You can also use risk management automation tools to streamline how you identify and prioritise hazards.
This part of the policy should make clear that your business does not wait for incidents to occur before acting.
Include Hazard Control Measures
You must take action once you identify a hazard. Your policy must commit to applying control measures based on the level of risk. Follow the hierarchy of controls—starting with elimination where possible, then working through substitution, engineering controls, administrative actions and finally personal protective equipment.
Do not just list control types. Be clear that your business will select controls that are suitable for the risk and effective in practice. Say who will put these controls in place and how you will monitor them.
You can also refer to specific areas, such as plant safety, chemical handling or manual tasks, to show your policy applies across different work conditions.
Commit to Reviewing and Updating Controls
Hazards change. Controls lose effectiveness over time. That is why your policy must commit to regular reviews. Say how often you will check controls, who is responsible, and what triggers a review. These triggers may include a workplace incident, equipment failure, or feedback from workers.
You must also act when new risks emerge. Make it clear that controls evolve with the work environment. A strong commitment to reviewing controls shows your business is reactive and proactive in protecting people.
By incorporating these risk management commitments, you build a policy that supports a safe, alert and responsive workplace.
7. Address Communication and Consultation
Clear communication and active consultation form the backbone of any effective safety policy. Workers must understand the risks, know what actions you expect from them, and feel confident that their voices matter.
To do this well, outline exactly how your business will share safety information and engage your team in decision-making.
Outline How Information Will Be Shared with Staff
State how your business will keep workers informed about health and safety matters. Use multiple channels. These can include toolbox talks, team meetings, digital noticeboards, safety alerts and training sessions. Specify that information will be accurate, timely and accessible to everyone regardless of their role, shift or location.
Where appropriate, use digital systems or HSEQ management software to deliver consistent updates and store safety documents. This approach ensures that no one is left behind and that key messages reach the right people.
Include Mechanisms for Employee Feedback and Participation
Workers often see risks before anyone else does. Your policy should make it easy for them to raise concerns, ask questions and suggest improvements. Offer multiple feedback channels. These may include suggestion boxes, digital forms, one-on-one conversations or regular check-ins with supervisors.
State that feedback will be recorded, reviewed and followed up. Make it clear that your business values worker input and treats it as part of daily operations. However, participation must go beyond reporting. Give workers opportunities to join safety committees, take part in inspections or help review procedures. When people are involved, they take ownership.
State Commitment to Consultation on Safety Matters
Your policy must confirm that you will consult with workers on all significant safety issues. That includes changes to processes, equipment, work practices and controls. Mention that consultation will be genuine, structured and in line with your legal duties under health and safety legislation.
Be clear about who is responsible for leading consultation efforts and how outcomes will be recorded and shared. Consultation shows that you trust your workers and value their judgement. By making communication and consultation a core part of your Occupational Health and Safety Policy, you build a safer, stronger and more cooperative workplace.
8. Include Incident Reporting and Response
Incidents and hazards need to be taken seriously every time. A strong policy sets clear expectations for reporting. It outlines how the business will handle incidents.
This section should explain what your staff must do, what you will do, and how you’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Set Expectations for Reporting Hazards and Incidents
State that every employee must report hazards, near misses and incidents as soon as possible. Be specific. Define who they report to, how they report, and what types of events need reporting. Include all injuries, illnesses, unsafe conditions, equipment faults and breaches of safety procedures.
Encourage immediate reporting without fear of blame. Everyone must understand that reporting is not about punishment, it is about prevention.
Include a reminder about legal obligations such as Victoria’s new incident notification requirements. If an incident meets the reporting threshold, your business must notify WorkSafe immediately. Your policy should show that you take this responsibility seriously.
Describe the Process for Investigation and Follow-up
You must investigate the incident once someone reports it. Appoint a designated investigator, describe the steps they follow, and explain how they collect evidence. Describe how you will document the cause, impact and contributing factors.
Explain that the business will involve relevant staff in the investigation, especially if they witnessed the event or have direct experience with the task or equipment involved.
Follow-up is essential. Communicate investigation results to the team. Record findings and share lessons across the business. Use that knowledge to improve systems and controls.-
Outline Corrective and Preventive Action Procedures
A good Occupational Health and Safety Policy outlines what the business will do to prevent repeat incidents.
Clarify who decides on corrective actions. List common responses, such as repairing equipment, updating procedures, changing work methods or providing extra training. Include a process for tracking completion, checking effectiveness and closing out actions.
Corrective actions fix the immediate problem. Preventive actions go further. They look at the bigger picture to stop similar issues elsewhere.
Be consistent. Use a documented process, supported by tools such as those in your FocusIMS risk management module. Keep records. Monitor progress. Most importantly, show your staff that reporting a hazard leads to real change.
9. Commit to Training and Competence
People cannot work safely without the right knowledge. Your Occupational Health and Safety Policy must confirm that you take training seriously and that you expect everyone in your business to do the same. You must plan employee training, document it, and update it as your business changes.
Start by identifying what training your workers need, based on their roles, responsibilities, and the risks involved in their work.
Provide Induction and Refresher Training
You must give every new worker a proper induction. Include site rules, emergency procedures, key contacts, hazard reporting and the safe use of equipment. When someone changes roles, moves to a different site, or returns from a long absence, repeat this process.
Refresher training keeps people alert. Schedule it at regular intervals or after an incident. If the way you work changes, update your training before the change takes effect.
Define Role-Specific Competency Requirements
Assign each position in your business a defined set of safety competencies. List the qualifications, licences, or certificates required for the job. Include specific training on machinery, chemicals, manual handling, or confined spaces, if relevant.
Keep a training matrix that shows who has completed what. You can use software to track it. A system like FocusIMS will link training records to each worker’s profile and alert you before licences expire or refresher training is due.
Support Ongoing Skill Development
Do not stop at basic compliance. Give your workers opportunities to grow. Offer toolbox talks, workshops, and short courses that build skills and confidence. Encourage supervisors to coach their teams and share experience on the job.
Commit to regular performance reviews. Use them to check how well workers understand safety procedures and where they need more support. Make sure leaders get leadership training. Workers follow what you do more than what you say.
By stating your training expectations clearly in your Occupational Health and Safety Policy, you make it easier to measure and improve. You create a workplace where people know what to do and how to do it safely.
10. Describe Policy Review and Continuous Improvement
An Occupational Health and Safety Policy must reflect what actually happens in your business. Work practices, risks and regulations change over time. To keep your policy useful and accurate, you need a clear and regular review process.
You should include when reviews will occur, what will trigger early reviews, who will lead them, and how you will use what you learn.
Set Review Frequency and Triggers
Commit to reviewing the policy at least once every 12 months. That timing keeps your document current and relevant. In addition, set clear triggers that will prompt an immediate review. These include:
- Serious incidents or near misses
- Major changes to operations, locations, or staff
- Legal or regulatory changes that affect your business
- Results of internal audits or external inspections
Do not wait for something to go wrong before you act. A review schedule works best when it is predictable and enforced.
Use Feedback and Incident Data
You must learn from experience. Safety managers should review incident reports, hazard logs, audit findings and safety meeting notes to identify gaps in the policy. Supervisors should pass on concerns raised by their teams. Ask for feedback from workers, contractors and clients based on their experience. They see what works in practice and what causes problems.
Record changes in a document control table. Note what changed, why it changed, and who approved it. This creates a clear history of improvements and protects your business from claims that you ignored risks.
Assign Responsibility
Name a person or role responsible for maintaining the policy. Make sure they have authority, resources and support from management. This person will coordinate the reviews, gather data, consult with staff, and make draft changes for approval.
If your business uses software like FocusIMS, assign system permissions to ensure updates are trackable and visible. The software can send reminders when reviews are due and link changes to incidents or audit findings.
A clear review process shows that your business treats safety as an active responsibility, not just a document on a shelf. It proves that you will adapt, learn and act when things change. That is what makes an Occupational Health and Safety Policy effective in practice.
11. Draft, Approve and Communicate the Policy
Once you have defined your objectives, responsibilities and safety procedures, you need to formalise them into a clear and practical document. The Occupational Health and Safety Policy should use plain language and follow a logical structure. Everyone in your workplace should be able to read it and understand what is expected.
Follow these steps to finalise and share the policy effectively:
- Write in clear, concise language. Use short sentences and direct instructions. Avoid legal jargon or technical terms unless you define them. Use active voice to make roles and actions clear.
- Submit the draft for approval. Ask senior management to review the final draft. The CEO, director or owner should sign and date the policy. This shows the business accepts full responsibility for enforcing it.
- Distribute the approved policy. Share the signed policy with all workers. Upload it to internal systems and attach it to onboarding materials. Email a digital copy to staff and contractors.
- Display the policy in key areas. Print and post the policy in lunch rooms, near entry points, and in meeting areas. Place it somewhere workers naturally look during the day.
- Remind and reinforce regularly. Ask supervisors to go over the policy during inductions, toolbox talks and team meetings. Include it in safety refresher training. Reference it during incident reviews or audits.
- Make it accessible to everyone. Use your communication tools to ensure all workers can access the policy, including field staff and part-time contractors. Share it through mobile apps, QR codes or intranet links, depending on your setup.
When you write clearly, secure management approval and promote the policy throughout your workplace, you give it practical weight. You show that health and safety is not just a document, but a shared responsibility.
12. Maintain Records and Monitor Implementation
Once you have rolled out your policy, you need to prove that you follow it. Good recordkeeping, regular monitoring and timely updates make the difference between a policy that lives on paper and one that shapes day-to-day decisions. These steps help you track compliance, identify gaps and make practical improvements.
Here’s how to maintain a reliable and active system:
Keep detailed records of communication and training.
Record who received a copy of the policy, when, and how. Keep attendance logs for safety training sessions. Track who completed inductions, refresher courses or toolbox talks. Include digital acknowledgements if you distribute the policy online. These records protect you during audits and prove that you have met your duty to inform workers.
Monitor compliance through regular audits
Assign supervisors or external auditors to check that the policy is being followed. Review work practices, signage, safety equipment and reporting systems. Match what’s happening on the ground with what your policy says. Keep audit reports short and specific. Flag areas where the policy is ignored or misunderstood.
Use findings to adjust and strengthen enforcement
Identify patterns. If several workers ignore a rule, you may need to reword it or change how it is explained. If equipment failures keep happening, review maintenance schedules or risk controls. Update your Occupational Health and Safety Policy when needed, and make sure all changes go through the same approval and distribution steps as the original.
Use Software to make it easier.
Choose software for safety management that records training, stores policies, and tracks audit results. Automate reminders for refresher training and scheduled reviews. Good software gives you one source of truth and reduces manual paperwork. It also helps you act quickly when something needs fixing.
Takeaway Message
Writing an Occupational Health and Safety Policy is only the starting point. The real value comes from how you use it. Firms that treat safety as a strategic function—not just a compliance task—build stronger, more resilient operations.
To get there, integrate safety into your performance management frameworks. Set measurable safety goals alongside operational targets. Hold leaders accountable for meeting them.
Invest in safety training that goes beyond box-ticking. Use your HR team to shape practical, job-specific programs. Adopt technology that makes safety easier to track, report and improve. Engage your employees directly. Ask what works, listen when they speak, and act on their feedback.
A strong policy backed by real commitment doesn’t just reduce incidents. It supports productivity, protects your people and strengthens your business from the ground up.
