WorkSafe WA releases draft safety code of practice for person overboard
The WA Work Health and Safety Commission is inviting public submissions on the draft Code of practice: Person overboard – prevention and response.
This Code updates the 2010 ‘Man Overboard: Prevention and Response’ guidelines developed under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 and incorporates new requirements introduced by the recently promulgated Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WHS Act).
It will assist those who manage or own a business to meet the requirements of the WHS Act and related regulations in relation to work carried out on commercial vessels.
The code will also provide guidance on:
- safe systems of work to prevent person overboard situations
- effective emergency measures to minimise the risks of injury, harm or death in the event of a person overboard incident
- risk management processes to address potential hazards and risks in relation to a person overboard situation.
A code of practice applies to anyone who has a duty of care in the circumstances described in the code.
In most cases, following an approved code of practice would achieve compliance with the health and safety duties in the WHS laws in relation to the subject matter of the code.
Like regulations, codes of practice deal with particular issues and do not cover all hazards or risks that may arise. The health and safety duties require duty holders to consider all risks associated with work, not only those for which regulations and codes of practice exist.
Codes of practice are admissible in court proceedings under the WHS Act and WHS General Regulations. Courts may consider a code of practice as evidence of what is known about a specific hazard, risk, risk assessment or risk control and may rely on the code in determining what is reasonably practicable in the circumstances to which the code of practice relates.
Your comments in regard to this draft CoP would be greatly appreciated.
Please use the cover sheet and feedback template to submit your comments direct to Worksafe through email at: [email protected].
Submissions close 5pm AWST on Friday 20 March 2026.
Please send copies of your submission/comments to [email protected] for inclusion in a WAFIC submission by COB 13 March 2026.