Australia Model Code of Practice Managing the Risks of Biological Hazards at Work 2.1-DUTY: PCBU primary duty: ensure so far as is reasonably practicable that the work does not put workers and others at risk from biological hazards arising from the work, through a safe work environment, safe plant, structures and systems of work, safe use, handling and storage of substances, adequate facilities, information, training, instruction and supervision, health and workplace monitoring, and safe accommodation; eliminate the risks or minimise them, doing more as the degree of harm and likelihood rise

What does 2.1-DUTY require?

Section 19 of the WHS Act gives the PCBU its primary duty: to make sure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the work of the business does not endanger the health and safety of workers or anyone else, and exposure to biological hazards is squarely inside that duty. The duty attaches to hazards that arise from the workplace and the work itself (the leptospirosis bacteria a farmhand meets handling cattle and milk) but not to exposures that happen away from work, such as food poisoning from a cafe lunch. Discharging it means providing and keeping up a work environment, plant, structures and systems of work free of risk; safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures and substances; adequate, reachable facilities; whatever information, training, instruction and supervision people need to stay safe; monitoring of workers' health and of workplace conditions to head off illness and injury; and upkeep of any accommodation the PCBU owns or controls. Risks are removed as far as is reasonably practicable, and where removal is impossible they are reduced as far as is reasonably practicable. What counts as reasonably practicable turns partly on how bad the harm could be and how likely it is, so when both are high, as during an infectious disease outbreak, more is expected, for example capping the number of customers indoors and cleaning more often.