A director’s duty of care extends beyond the boardroom – it starts with your workforce.
Health Risk Is a Director’s Responsibility
In today’s high-accountability landscape, directors and officers are not just responsible for the financial performance of their organisation, they’re accountable for its health performance too.
Modern industrial manslaughter legislation has heightened this duty of care. While prosecutions remain relatively rare, recent cases show the potential for criminal charges when businesses fail to identify, monitor or mitigate workplace health risks—especially in safety-critical sectors.
That includes not just acute safety incidents, but long-term health failures like exposure to silica dust or unmanaged fatigue among vehicle operators. In both scenarios, a health risk can become a corporate risk and ultimately a legal liability.
Directors Don’t Have to Be Medical Experts—But They Do Need One
Just like you wouldn’t attempt to manage your organisation’s tax exposure without an accountant or its legal risks without a lawyer, you shouldn’t be managing occupational health risk without specialist support.
Occupational and Environmental Physicians (OEPs) are uniquely positioned to assist. These are specialist doctors trained to assess, manage, and mitigate medical risk in the workplace including physical hazards, fatigue, psychosocial injury, drug and alcohol exposure, and complex claims.
An OEP can help:
- Conduct evidence-based risk assessments across your operations
- Interpret health trends across your workforce to spot emerging threats
- Recommend targeted interventions (e.g. fatigue management in drivers, silica exposure control)
- Guide you on your health risk obligations across multiple legal jurisdictions
- Manage long-tail claims that arise from preventable exposures or undiagnosed conditions
Health Failures Don’t Always Look Like Incidents
Recent expert commentary highlights that under industrial manslaughter laws, a person doesn’t need to die immediately after a causal event. In fact, prosecutions may arise years after exposure, particularly in the case of diseases like silicosis.
As notable health and safety lawyer Alan Girle noted:
“It is important for businesses and executives to understand their risk profile and to develop mechanisms to eliminate or where not possible minimise the risk. The time has come to proactively manage those risks.”
OEPs help directors put those mechanisms in place before failures occur.
Managing Health Risk Across Jurisdictions
Australia’s fragmented regulatory environment means that managing occupational health risk nationally is complex. With 11 major workers’ compensation schemes and varying definitions of fitness for duty, what’s compliant in one jurisdiction might fall short in another.
The team at Phoenix Occupational Medicine helps you build nationally consistent frameworks for health governance. We work with your safety, HR, and legal teams to unify your strategy, no matter how many states or industries you operate in.
Learn How an OEP Can Make a Difference When Navigating Workers’ Compensation Claims
A Practical First Step: Health Risk Audit
If you’re not sure whether your current systems are robust enough, Phoenix offers a free audit tool designed to help directors identify gaps and get clear next steps.
- Takes less than 5 minutes
- No cost or obligation
- Immediate results and tailored suggestions
Try the tool now and gain a clearer picture of your organisational health risk profile.
Start the Workplace Occupational Health Audit Tool
Trusted Advisors in Workplace Health
Your legal responsibilities as a director are clear, but you don’t have to carry the burden alone. Phoenix Occupational Medicine partners with executive teams to provide expert, medically informed guidance that protects your people and your business.
Let us help you build a workplace where health is not just a compliance issue, it’s a strategic asset.
Contact us today to speak with an Occupational and Environmental Physician.
