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Hazards index

Hazards are anything that can cause harm and every place of work has them. Understanding the hazards at your work can help you manage risks and keep workers safe and healthy.

This information will help you identify the hazards at your work and the steps you can take to reduce or remove risks for yourself and your workers.

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  • Hazardous chemicals; electricity; environment; health and wellbeing; material; plant, equipment and vehicle

    Children in workplaces

    Hazards to children in places of work carry the risk of injury, illness, or death. Workers and management can work together to reduce these risks.

  • Hazardous chemicals; environment; material

    Handheld grinders for mortar removal

    Using handheld grinders to remove mortar (tuckpointing or removing mortar/concrete that has leaked from undersides of slab) can generate respirable crystalline silica dust. When inhaled, the small particles of silica can irreversibly damage the lungs.

  • Hazardous chemicals; environment; material

    Biological hazards

    Biological hazards can cause risks to workers in a number of ways. This page has information about a range of biological hazards including bacterial and viral hazards and diseases from animals.

  • Hazardous chemicals; environment; material

    Airborne contaminants

    Workplace air can be contaminated by a range of airborne contaminants that are hazardous when breathed in.

  • Hazardous chemicals; electricity; environment; health and wellbeing; mental health

    Casual workers

    Casual workers can be employed directly by an employer or via a labour hire agency. In general terms, you should treat every casual worker as if they were one of your full-time workers.

  • Health and wellbeing

    Healthy workplace audit tool

    Use the healthy workplace audit tool to assess workplace systems and environments and identify areas for improvement.

  • Health and wellbeing; mental health

    Remote or isolated work

    Remote work refers to work that is isolated from the assistance of other people because of location, time, or the nature of the work.  It can involve working in locations where there is difficulty in immediate rescue or attendance of emergency services (where required).

  • Health and wellbeing; mental health

    Poor organisational justice

    Poor organisational justice refers to work where there is a lack of procedural fairness (fair processes to reach decisions), informational fairness (keeping relevant people informed), or interpersonal fairness (treating people with dignity and respect).

  • Hazardous manual tasks; environment; health and wellbeing;

    Slips, trips and falls

    Slips, trips and falls can happen in any workplace. Find out what causes them and how you can prevent them.

  • Health and wellbeing; mental health

    Poor environmental conditions

    Poor environmental conditions are those where workers are exposed to unpleasant, poor quality, or hazardous physical environments or conditions that create a stress response.

  • Health and wellbeing; mental health

    Low reward and recognition

    Low reward and recognition refers to work where there is an imbalance between workers’ efforts and recognition or rewards they receive in return – both formal and informal.

  • Hazardous chemicals; environment; material

    Jackhammers or handheld powered chipping tools

    Using a jackhammer or handheld power chipping tools to break or demolish concrete, stone, masonry or other silica-containing materials can generate respirable crystalline silica dust. When inhaled over time, the small particles of silica can irreversibly damage the lungs.