1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004.
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Bill homepageThis Act may be cited as the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004.
This Act comes into operation on a day fixed by proclamation.
Different days may be fixed under subsection (1) for different provisions.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
approved means approved by the Chief Officer;
Chief Officer means the person designated as the Chief Dangerous Goods Officer under section 25(2);
container means any container, package or other thing capable of containing dangerous goods, or an assemblage of such containers, packages or things, but does not include a pipeline;
dangerous goods means a substance or article that is —
prescribed by the regulations to be dangerous goods; or
determined by the Chief Officer under the regulations to be dangerous goods;
dangerous goods incident means any incident that involved dangerous goods and that caused or, but for intervening events, could have caused —
the death of an individual, unreasonable bodily injury to an individual that interferes with his or her health or comfort, or unreasonable harm to the health of an individual;
significant and unreasonable damage or harm to property or the environment;
dangerous goods officer (DGO) means a person appointed as such under section 27;
dangerous goods site means a place —
where dangerous goods were or are, or are intended to be, stored or handled; or
where the loading or unloading of dangerous goods in connection with transporting them was or is, or is intended to be, carried out;
dangerous situation means a situation where there is an imminent and high risk to people, property or the environment from dangerous goods;
driver, in relation to a vehicle, means the person driving or in charge of the vehicle and includes the master of a vehicle transporting people or things by water;
exemption means an exemption granted under Part 4 and includes such an exemption as amended from time to time;
give, in relation to any document or information, includes (without limiting sections 75 and 76 of the Interpretation Act 1984) sending the document or information by remote communication;
handle, in relation to dangerous goods, includes to manufacture, process, pack, use, sell, supply, carry (including by pipeline), and treat the dangerous goods and to destroy or otherwise dispose of dangerous goods;
record means any record of information, irrespective of how the information is recorded or stored or able to be recovered and includes —
any thing from which images, sounds or writings can be reproduced, with or without the aid of anything else; and
any thing on which information is recorded or stored, whether electronically, magnetically, mechanically or by some other means;
remote communication means any way of communicating at a distance including by telephone, fax, email and radio;
risk, in relation to dangerous goods, means —
in relation to people — the probability of the goods causing the death of, unreasonable injury to, or unreasonable harm to the health of, one or more individuals;
in relation to property or the environment — the probability of dangerous goods causing unreasonable damage or harm to property or the environment;
safety management document means a document that the regulations require to be prepared in relation to —
the safe storage, handling or transport of dangerous goods; or
dealing with emergencies involving dangerous goods,
and that the regulations prescribe to be a safety management document;
specified, in relation to an order, exemption, notice, or direction, means specified in the order, exemption, notice, or direction, as the case may be;
substance means a solid, liquid or gas or a mixture of them;
transport, in relation to dangerous goods, means the transport of dangerous goods by vehicle and includes —
the packing, loading and unloading of the goods, and the transfer of the goods to or from a vehicle, for the purpose of their transport;
the labelling, marking or placarding of containers and vehicles in which the goods are transported; and
other matters incidental to the transport of the goods;
vehicle means any thing capable of transporting people or things by road, rail or water, including a hovercraft, and it does not matter how the thing is moved or propelled.
In this Act these abbreviations are used —
DGO for dangerous goods officer.
For the purposes of this Act, the risk to people, property or the environment from dangerous goods is to be assessed having regard to —
public knowledge about the intrinsic potential of the goods to cause death or injury to, or harm to the health of, individuals, or damage or harm to property or the environment;
the situation of the goods; and
all relevant surrounding circumstances.
In this section —
harm means —
injury to, or harm to the health of, an individual; or
damage or harm to property or the environment.
For the purposes of references in this Act to unreasonable harm, harm from dangerous goods is capable of being reasonable if, and only if —
it was foreseen, and caused intentionally, by the person who had the control or management of the goods at the time the harm occurred;
it was caused by a lawful act; and
in the case of harm to an individual or to property, it was caused with the consent of the individual or of the owner of the property, as the case may be.
This Act does not apply to a pipeline, carrying dangerous goods, to which the Gas Standards Act 1972, Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Pipelines Act 1969 or Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Submerged Lands) Act 1982 applies.
If another written law applies to or in respect of dangerous goods, that law applies in addition to this Act, unless subsection (3) or (4) applies or this Act expressly provides otherwise.
If a provision of this Act conflicts or is inconsistent with a provision of another written law that applies to or in relation to dangerous goods, the provision of this Act prevails, unless subsection (4) applies.
If a provision of this Act conflicts or is inconsistent with a provision of another written law that applies to or in relation to dangerous goods of a category that is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection by regulations made under this Act, the provision of the other written law prevails.
[Section 6 amended: No. 17 of 2024 s. 389.]
This Act binds the Crown in the right of Western Australia and, so far as the legislative capacity of Parliament permits, in all its other capacities.
A person who is involved directly or indirectly in storing, handling or transporting dangerous goods must take all reasonably practicable measures to minimise the risk to people, property and the environment from the goods.
Penalty:
for an individual, $100 000 or imprisonment for 4 years or both;
for a body corporate, $500 000.
For the purposes of subsection (1), whether measures are reasonably practicable is to be determined having regard to —
the severity of the risk to people, property or the environment from the goods;
the severity of any injury, harm or damage that might be caused by the goods to people, property or the environment;
public knowledge about the matters in paragraphs (a) and (b);
public knowledge about means to reduce or eliminate the risk referred to in paragraph (a) or to reduce the severity referred to in paragraph (b); and
the availability, suitability and cost of those means.
If an individual is involved directly or indirectly in storing, handling or transporting dangerous goods the reference in subsection (1) to people includes a reference to the individual.
In this section —
reportable situation means a situation that involves dangerous goods and that is prescribed by the regulations to be a reportable situation.
If in the course of storing, handling or transporting dangerous goods a reportable situation arises, any person who to any extent has the control or management of the dangerous goods involved must as soon as reasonably practicable report the situation to a DGO.
Penalty: $50 000.
The regulations may prescribe information to be included in the report required by subsection (2).
It is a defence to a charge of an offence under subsection (2) to prove that the person charged honestly and reasonably believed that another person to whom subsection (2) applies had reported the event.
A person commits an offence if —
the regulations require the person to prepare a safety management document; and
the person does not prepare the document in accordance with the regulations.
Penalty:
for an individual, $50 000 or imprisonment for 2 years or both;
for a body corporate, $250 000.
In this section —
licence includes an accreditation and a permit.
A person who engages in an activity relating to the storage, handling or transport of dangerous goods, other than an activity to which section 12, 13 or 15 applies, commits an offence if —
the regulations require the person to hold a licence to engage in the activity; and
the person does not hold a licence under the regulations.
Penalty:
for an individual, $50 000 or imprisonment for 2 years or both;
for a body corporate, $250 000.
A person who is in possession of dangerous goods commits an offence if —
the regulations require the person to have a licence or permit to possess the dangerous goods; and
the person does not have a licence or permit under the regulations.
Penalty:
for an individual, $50 000 or imprisonment for 2 years or both;
for a body corporate, $250 000.
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