3. Interpretation
(1) In this Act unless the contrary intention appears ¾
}appointed member~ means a member of the Commission referred to in section 6(2)(a) or (d);
}apprentice~ ¾
(a) means an apprentice under the Industrial Training Act 1975; or
(b) if Part 7 of the Vocational Education and Training Act 1996 comes into operation, means a person who, as an employee, has entered into an apprenticeship within the meaning of that term in section 58 of that Act;
}Australian Standard~ means a document having that title published by Standards Australia International Limited (ACN 087 326 690);
}Australian/New Zealand Standard~ means a document having that title published jointly by ¾
(a) Standards Australia International Limited (ACN 087 326 690); and
(b) the Standards Council of New Zealand;
}chairperson~ means the chairperson of the Commission;
}code of practice~ means a code of practice approved by the Minister under Part VIII;
}Commission~ means the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health established under this Act;
}Commissioner~ means the person holding office as WorkSafe Western Australia Commissioner under section 9;
}Commissioner of Police~ means the person holding the office of Commissioner of Police under the Police Act 1892;
}department~ means the department of the Public Service of the State principally assisting the Minister in the administration of this Act;
}employee~ means ¾
(a) a person by whom work is done under a contract of employment; or
(b) an apprentice or trainee;
}employer~ means ¾
(a) a person that employs an employee under a contract of employment; and
(b) in relation to an apprentice or trainee, the person that employs the apprentice or trainee under an apprenticeship or traineeship scheme under the Industrial Training Act 1975;
}hazard~, in relation to a person, means anything that may result in ¾
(a) injury to the person; or
(b) harm to the health of the person;
}import~ means to bring into the State, whether from outside Australia or otherwise;
}improvement notice~ means an improvement notice issued under Part VI;
}inspector~ means an inspector appointed under section 42, and subject to section 42B(3), includes a restricted inspector appointed under section 42A;
}plant~ includes any machinery, equipment, appliance, implement, or tool and any component or fitting thereof or accessory thereto;
}police officer~ means a person appointed ¾
(a) under Part I of the Police Act 1892 to be a member of the Police Force of Western Australia;
(b) under Part III of the Police Act 1892 to be a special constable; or
(c) under Part IIIA of the Police Act 1892 to be an aboriginal aide;
}practicable~ means reasonably practicable having regard, where the context permits, to ¾
(a) the severity of any potential injury or harm to health that may be involved, and the degree of risk of it occurring;
(b) the state of knowledge about ¾
(i) the injury or harm to health referred to in paragraph (a);
(ii) the risk of that injury or harm to health occurring; and
(iii) means of removing or mitigating the risk or mitigating the potential injury or harm to health;
and
(c) the availability, suitability, and cost of the means referred to in paragraph (b)(iii);
}prescribed law~ means a law prescribed for the purposes of section 14(1)(b);
}prohibition notice~ means a prohibition notice issued under Part VI;
}provisional improvement notice~ means a provisional improvement notice issued under Part VI Division 2;
}risk~, in relation to any injury or harm, means the probability of that injury or harm occurring;
}safety and health committee~ means a safety and health committee established under Part IV Division 2;
}safety and health magistrate~ means a person holding office as a safety and health magistrate under section 51B;
}safety and health representative~ means a safety and health representative elected under Part IV Division 1;
}self-employed person~ means an individual who works for gain or reward otherwise than ¾
(a) under a contract of employment; or
(b) as an apprentice or trainee,
whether or not the individual is an employer;
}supply~, in relation to any plant or substance, includes supply and re-supply by way of ¾
(a) sale (including by auction), exchange, lease, hire, or hire-purchase, whether as principal or agent;
(b) the disposal in a manner referred to in paragraph (a) of assets of a business that include any plant or substance; and
(c) the disposal of all of the shares in a company that owns any plant or substance;
}trade union~ means ¾
(a) an organization registered under section 53 of the Industrial Relations Act 1979; or
(b) an organization registered under the Industrial Relations Act 1988 of the Parliament of the Commonwealth and having employees as its members, or a branch of any such organization;
}trainee~ means a person belonging to a class of persons defined by the regulations as trainees for the purposes of this Act;
}transferred law~ means a law or a provision of a law transferred to the administration of the Minister pursuant to an order under this Act;
}Tribunal~ has the meaning given to that term in section 51G(2);
}WA Police~ means the Police Force of Western Australia provided for by the Police Act 1892;
}workplace~ means a place, whether or not in an aircraft, ship, vehicle, building, or other structure, where employees or self-employed persons work or are likely to be in the course of their work.
(2) Anything that, under this Act, is required to be served on, or otherwise done in relation to, an employer in relation to a workplace or a matter related to a workplace, is deemed to have been so served or done if it is served on, or done in relation to, a person at the workplace who has or reasonably appears to have responsibility for the management or control of the workplace.
(3) For the purposes of sections 18A, 19A(2), 20A(2), 21A(2), 21C(2), 22A(2), 23AA(2), 23B(2) and 23H(2), a contravention causes serious harm to a person if it causes any bodily injury to the person, or causes the person to have a disease, of such a nature as to ¾
(a) endanger, or be likely to endanger, the person's life; or
(b) result, or be likely to result, in permanent injury or harm to the person's health.
(4) For the purposes of this Act, a police officer is to be treated as an employee of the Crown.
(5) Without limiting any other provision of this Act, a police officer is at work during any period of time when the officer is performing a function of a police officer, whether or not the officer is rostered on duty and, in relation to a police officer, the expressions }work~ and }at work~ are to be construed accordingly.
[Section 3 amended by No. 43 of 1987 s.5; No. 30 of 1995 s.6; No. 79 of 1995 s.67(5); No. 54 of 2002 s. 4; No. 74 of 2003 s. 87(3); No. 51 of 2004 s. 14, 38, 63, 73 and 104.]