SafeWork NSW_Guide to workplace right of entry to WHS entry permit holders

This guide provides an overview of Part 7 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and Part 2.4 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (WHS Regulation). 

The guide describes the role of a work health and safety entry permit holder (EPH), the circumstances in which an EPH may enter a workplace and what an EPH may do while at the workplace

The WHS Act enables an EPH to enter a workplace to:

• inquire into a suspected contravention or to

• inspect employee records that are directly relevant to a suspected contravention or other documents that are directly relevant to a suspected contravention, and that are not held by the relevant person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU).

The WHS Act also enables an EPH to enter a workplace to consult and advise relevant workers on work health and safety matters.

Note: ‘relevant worker’ means a worker:

• who is a member, or eligible to be a member, of the union that the EPH represents (relevant union) and

• whose industrial interests the relevant union is entitled to represent and

• who works at the workplace.