Your home should make you feel safe. This same sense of security should also extend to common property areas like driveways, stairways, and pathways. After all, this is an extension of your personal space. All residents and visitors deserve the right to be safe on your property. While it is inevitable that issues may arise, the owners corporation or body corporate have a responsibility to manage and mitigate those risks to maintain the safety of the property – no matter its size or type.
These health and safety responsibilities are not just a legal obligation of the owners corporation or body corporate but a fundamental duty of care. This would require owners corporations, and body corporates to implement health and safety practices for all who access the common property: owners, contractors, employees, tenants, residents, short-term renters, guests or visitors.
Proactive risk management and well-being promotion are integral to every committee, owner, corporation, or business’s commitment to residents’ and staff’s welfare. This guide is designed to help you navigate and fulfil your strata health and safety responsibilities effectively.
All residents and visitors deserve the right to be safe on your property. To help achieve this, exercising your duty of care is paramount. The responsibility for common property safety is often overlooked because it isn’t straightforward.
If an owners corporation or body corporate breaches their duty of care, they may be found liable and sued for any injury, harm or economic loss caused based on:
• If the risk was foreseeable and preventable.
• If there was a substantial risk of harm.
• If reasonable action by a duty holder, under the same circumstances, would have been taken to mitigate or eliminate the risk.
The importance of health and safety is further highlighted in a 2024 case in NSW where an owners corporation was ordered to pay $225,000 for breaching their WHS duty, resulting in death.
It is also important to remember that everyone is held liable for incidents on common property, as fines are a cost passed to owners as well. To avoid severe penalities, it is best practice to prioritise safety and risk management by proactively identifying, reviewing, and controlling common property hazards. Below are key areas of responsibilities that owners corporations or body corporates need to fulfil:
Duty to maintain, repair, and manage common property according to legislation
Duty to ensure safety to those performing services
Duty of care to all people who enter your common property
If your owners corporation or body corporate engages a contractor or employs a worker for the management, repairs and maintenance of common areas for mixed-use residential and commercial property, you can be classified as a person conducting business or undertaking (PCBU).
To determine if you are considered a PCBU, it is best practice to seek professional advice to remain compliant with the WHS Act. PCBUs must have a work health and safety risk management system in place that meets regulatory requirements.
Whether you are a PCBU or not, both common law and the WHS Act look at foreseeability, preventability, and reasonableness on how risks and hazards are managed on the property. Owners corporation or body corporates found negligent will be in breach of their legal duties, which can result in liability for death and injury, litigation in court, fines and penalties.
In general, the committee has a duty to ensure the health and safety of owners, contractors, suppliers, employees, tenants, residents, short-term renters or visitors. This includes the responsibility to maintain and repair common property under relevant state legislation outlined below and protect the health and safety of all stakeholders under the relevant state laws:
Common property maintenance: Strata Management Act 2015
Work health and safety: Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)
Common property maintenance: Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997
Work health and safety: Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
Common property maintenance: Owners Corporations Act 2006
Work health and safety: Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
Common property maintenance: Unit Titles Act 1975
Work health and safety: Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT)
Common property maintenance: Strata Titles Act 1998
Work health and safety: Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas)
Owners corporations and body corporates have a duty to foresee any hazards and manage any risks on the property. To proactively manage risks in your property, the committee should get a safety report, preferably every 12 months, to fulfil their health and safety duties outlined in the state regulations and codes of practice.
This would help identify hazards or incidents that need to be reported to Community Health & Safety or your strata manager. It is the responsibility of the committee to decide and take action on the recommendations, with priority given to serious hazards.
When it comes to managing risks, it is important to keep your strata manager updated with any changes, incidents, hazards and decision-making, including:
– Feedback from third parties.
– Relevant agreements.
– Motions.
Proper risk management can help protect your property from breaches that may result in liability for death and injury, litigation in court, severe fines and penalties.
This section covers an easy four-step process for managing risks on your owners corporation or body corporate property.
To minimise risks on your property, they must be identified as soon as possible. However, many potential hazards are difficult for an untrained observer to spot. It is strongly recommended that you regularly acquire a safety report from a certified professional to help evaluate and minimise risks within the following areas on your property.
The hazard needs to be categorised by assessing the following:
– The risk level and severity of the existing hazards and incidents.
– Actions available to minimise and avoid hazards and incidents.
– How to resolve existing hazards and incidents.
– Who is responsible for resolving hazards and incidents?
Elimination of a hazard is the best option. However, if this cannot be achieved, the order of preference for hazard controls is:
• Substitution, e.g. substitute the equipment with something different
• Isolation, e.g. storing away hazardous items or cordoning off area where hazard is found
• Engineering controls e.g. put a temporary railing in place
• Administrative controls, e.g. introduce training, information guides and processes
• Personal protective equipment and clothing.
More emphasis needs to be placed on risks perceived as more likely to occur and have a higher level of consequence. Hazards should be reported to a professional so they can assess the risk level and report back to the manager with the appropriate time frame for rectification.
Hazard identification, risk assessment, and hazard elimination/risk control are ongoing processes. Committee members, owners corporations, body corporates, and residents are all responsible for identifying, reporting and controlling risks. A notifiable incident is defined as one that may result in serious injury, illness, death, or a near miss. A serious risk is where harm (death, injury or illness) or property damage might occur when exposed to that hazard.
Whether you would like to report a current hazard or flag a near-miss incident, the strata manager is usually the best point of call for assistance with reporting a notifiable incident.
However, if the situation is an emergency, please call local authorities or the relevant provider:
– Police, fire brigade, ambulance: 000
– National security hotline: 1800 123 400
All hazards should be reviewed and assessed regularly to mitigate the risks. It’s wise to take proactive action rather than wait for an incident to occur.
The committee should proactively hold meetings and consultations with stakeholders and other duty-holders to communicate and assess health and safety issues throughout the property, as prescribed under the following state legislations.
Furthermore, a ‘toolbox talk’ or health and safety meeting should be held as required or made as a standard agenda item, with health and safety issues being addressed and recorded for review and monitoring.
Please contact your strata manager to review your current hazards and develop a proactive risk management plan.
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT)
Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas)
Furthermore, a ‘toolbox talk’ or health and safety meeting should be held as required or made as a standard agenda item, with health and safety issues being addressed and recorded for review and monitoring.
Please contact your strata manager to review your current hazards and develop a proactive risk management plan.
All health and safety-related activities or events occurring on the common property must be recorded to help your owners corporation or body corporate maintain compliance.
You should supply these documents to your strata manager, who can help maintain these records, including tasks, notes, forms, invoices, certificates, and reports.
Your owners corporation or body corporate will need a WHS summary policy. This would serve as the foundation of the risk management framework and will help detail responsibilities assigned to committees, owners corporations, body corporates, and residents.
Follow a work health and safety risk management framework.
Manage common property effectively to limit health and safety risks.
Promote proactive health and safety measures.
Provide adequate resources and information to meet your commitment to health and safety matters.
Ensure the health and safety of all residents, visitors and workers using common property
Zero incidents and 100% regulatory compliance
Nil reported incidents and 100% regulatory compliance audit score and utilising CommunitySelect
The owners corporation or body corporate are accountable for everything that happens on common property.
Navigating work, health, and safety obligations can sometimes often be complex.
Our Community Health & Safety team is here to help provide our customers with a WHS risk management system tailored to their specific needs. This service supports owners, corporations, and body corporates from the eligible branches below in managing day-to-day risks associated with the health and safety of people entering the property. This includes:
Since Community Health & Safety launched, we have assisted over 5,000 properties to record and manage over 25,000 common property hazards and incidents. Find out more on Community Health & Safety or related information and ask your strata manager about how to get involved with our health and safety support services before your next AGM.
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When it comes to managing a strata, body corporate, or owners corporation property, various compliance or legislative requirements are needed to protect owners and residents. By following the key steps in this guide, you can help reduce the risk of injuries and incidents and fulfil your duty of care.
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This article is edited by Lauren Shaw Regional General Manager and Licensee-in-Charge on February 2025.
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