Work Health and Safety Act 2020

A health and safety representative may direct a worker who is in a work group represented by the representative to cease work if the representative has a reasonable concern that to carry out the work would expose the worker to a serious risk to the worker’s health or safety emanating from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard.

However, the health and safety representative must not give a worker a direction to cease work unless the matter is not resolved after —

consulting about the matter with the person conducting the business or undertaking for whom the worker is carrying out work; and

attempting to resolve the matter as an issue under Division 5 of this Part.

The health and safety representative may direct the worker to cease work without carrying out that consultation or attempting to resolve the matter as an issue under Division 5 of this Part if the risk is so serious and immediate or imminent that it is not reasonable to consult before giving the direction.

The health and safety representative must carry out the consultation as soon as practicable after giving a direction under subsection (3).

The health and safety representative must inform the person conducting the business or undertaking of any direction given by the health and safety representative to a worker under this section.

A health and safety representative cannot give a direction under this section unless the representative has —

completed initial training prescribed by the regulations referred to in section 72(1)(b); or

previously completed that training when acting as a health and safety representative for another work group; or

completed training equivalent to that training under a corresponding WHS law.

A health and safety representative cannot give a direction under this section if compliance with the direction would affect adversely, or could reasonably be expected to affect adversely, a covert operation or a dangerous operation.