A duty holder's verbal directions to workers about safety practices, where not recorded in written Safe Work Method Statements and not systematically conveyed to all relevant workers including sub-contractors, are unlikely to satisfy the duty to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable under s 19(1) of the WHS Act. Post-incident amendments to safety documents may be used as evidence that written procedures were reasonably practicable measures available at the time of the incident. The word 'permitted' in charge particulars alleging a failure to comply with a WHS duty is not an essential fact requiring separate proof where it describes a circumstance that arose because of the omissions particularised as the breach.
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