Those performing governance roles don’t have to be experts, but they should obtain enough rail health and safety knowledge to ask the right questions of the right people. This is referred to as due diligence.
Due diligence is defined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 as taking reasonable steps to:
- gain, and keep up to date, knowledge of work health and safety matters.
- gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or PCBU and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations.
- to make sure the PCBU has the appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work being done.
- make sure the PCBU has the right processes for receiving and considering information on incidents, hazards and risks and respond in a timely way to that information.
- make sure the PCBU has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation of the PCBU under this Act.
