Western Australian Consolidated Acts

MINES SAFETY AND INSPECTION ACT 1994 - SECT 9

9 .         Employers, duties of

        (1)         An employer must, so far as is practicable, provide and maintain at a mine a working environment in which that employer’s employees are not exposed to hazards and, in particular, but without limiting the generality of that general obligation, an employer must —

            (a)         provide and maintain workplaces, plant, and systems of work of a kind that, so far as is practicable, the employer’s employees are not exposed to hazards; and

            (b)         provide such information, instructions and training to and supervision of employees as is necessary to enable them to perform their work in such a manner that they are not exposed to hazards; and

            (c)         consult and cooperate with safety and health representatives, if any, and other employees at the mine where that employer’s employees work, regarding occupational safety and health at the mine; and

            (d)         where it is not practicable to avoid the presence of hazards at the mine, provide employees with, or otherwise provide for the employees to have, such adequate personal protective clothing and equipment as is practicable to protect them against those hazards, without any cost to the employees; and

            (e)         make arrangements for ensuring, so far as is practicable, that —

                  (i)         the use, cleaning, maintenance, transportation, and disposal of plant; and

                  (ii)         the use, handling, processing, storage, transportation, and disposal of substances,

                at the mine is carried out in such a manner that that employer’s employees are not exposed to hazards.

        (2)         In determining the training required to be provided in accordance with subsection (1)(b), regard must be had to the functions performed by employees and the capacities in which they are employed.

        [(3)-(4)         deleted]

        (5)         The duties imposed under subsection (1) on an employer who is the principal employer at a mine are not taken to be carried out only by the appointment of a manager for the mine.

        (6)         Notwithstanding subsection (1), any duty imposed under that subsection on an employer who is not the principal employer at the mine applies only in relation to matters over which the employer who is not the principal employer has control, or but for an agreement between the 2 employers, would have had control.

        [Section 9 amended by No. 30 of 1995 s. 54 and 76(2) and (4); No. 68 of 2004 s. 6 and 18.]