WHS Policies and Procedures: What Your Business Should Keep Current
Know which WHS documents form the backbone of your safety system and how to keep them aligned with actual work.
Quick answer
Know which WHS documents form the backbone of your safety system and how to keep them aligned with actual work.
Policies set direction
A WHS policy should state the business commitment, assign responsibilities, and set expectations for risk management, consultation, training, reporting, and review.
Procedures explain how work is controlled
Procedures should be practical enough for supervisors and workers to use. They should connect to the forms and registers that prove the procedure is followed.
- Risk assessment
- Incident reporting
- Emergency response
- Consultation
- Training and competency
Review documents when operations change
Review documents after incidents, regulator updates, new work types, new plant, new sites, or repeated audit findings.
Frequently asked questions
Are template WHS policies enough?
Templates need to be tailored to the business, work activities, state or territory context, and actual operating controls.
How do policies connect to registers?
Each procedure should produce evidence, such as inspection records, incident reports, training records, or corrective actions.
Where can I browse WHS document examples?
Blue Safe has a public document library and paid plans with customised document generation.
Next step
Use this guide to check your current evidence, then move the work into a controlled system with documents, forms, registers, and review actions.
Browse the document library