What is reasonably practicable - a work health and safety perspective
Reasonably practicable is the underpinning legal obligation of work health and safety legislation in Australia.
Notwithstanding the consistent application of the principle of reasonably practicable by Australian courts for decades, the term reasonably practicable often causes confusion in practice and many of the concepts around reasonably practicable have become overly complicated by focusing on precursor terms such as "as low as" or "so far as is" reasonably practicable. Moreover, many individuals mistake the organisational obligation to do everything reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of workers and others with their own obligations to take "reasonable care".
Reasonably practicable and reasonable care are not the same thing. In this presentation, Greg will provide a legal overview of the concept of reasonably practicable in an engineering context and explain the difference between the organisation’s obligation to do everything reasonably practicable and the individual workers obligation to take reasonable care.
Learning outcomes:
- Legal definition of the meaning of "Reasonably Practicable" to meet WHS obligations
- Practical examples where engineering is seen to achieve what is deemed reasonably practicable
- Explain the difference between "Reasonably Practicable" and taking " Reasonable Care"
About the Speaker
Partner, Jackson McDonald
Greg Smith is an international award-winning author and qualified lawyer who has spent more than three decades specialising in safety and health management. Greg works with clients helping them to understand their responsibility for safety and health and develop processes to discharge those responsibilities. In addition to being a lawyer, Greg has worked as the Principal Safety Advisor for a major oil and gas company and General Manager Health and Safety in a transport and mining services company. Greg holds various board positions and taught the Accident Prevention unit at Curtin University in Western Australia. Greg is the author of, Management Obligations for Safety and Health , Paper Safe: The triumph of bureaucracy and safety management, Proving Safety: wicked problems, legal risk management and the tyranny of metrics, co-author of, Risky Conversations: The Law, Social Psychology and Risk and the editor of Contractor Safety Management, which won the 2014 World Safety Organisation’s Educational Award.
