For Employers
Officer Due Diligence Under s27: The Six Limbs and the Evidence File That Protects Directors
WHS officer duties are personal and not delegable. The six due-diligence limbs, what evidence a regulator asks directors for, and a quarterly rhythm that builds the file automatically.
Why officer duties are different: personal and not delegable
Under s27 of the WHS Act, every officer — directors, and anyone who makes or participates in decisions affecting the whole or a substantial part of the business — owes a personal duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU meets its WHS obligations. It cannot be delegated to a safety manager, and it is prosecuted against the individual, separately from the company. (Victoria frames officer obligations under its OHS Act; the harmonised limbs below remain the practical benchmark for what good looks like.)
The uncomfortable implication: “I hired good people and assumed it was handled” is the fact pattern that fails the duty. Due diligence is an active verb — the six limbs describe what an officer must personally do and be able to prove.
The six limbs, translated into evidence
Each limb maps to a simple artefact a regulator can ask for:
| Limb | What it requires | Evidence that satisfies it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acquire and keep up-to-date WHS knowledge | Training log, briefings attended, updates read |
| 2 | Understand the operations and their hazards | Site walk notes, hazard profile per business unit |
| 3 | Ensure appropriate resources and processes | Budget lines, staffing decisions, equipment approvals |
| 4 | Ensure incident information reaches you and is acted on | Standing safety report to the board, incident escalation rule |
| 5 | Ensure legal-compliance processes exist | Obligations register, codes mapping, audit schedule |
| 6 | Verify all of the above is actually working | Audit results reviewed, spot checks, follow-up minutes |
Limb 6 is where files fall over — verification means checking the system works, not receiving assurances that it does.
A quarterly rhythm that builds the file automatically
The sustainable approach is a standing quarterly cycle: a safety report to each board/leadership meeting (limbs 4–5), one site or process deep-dive per quarter (limbs 2 and 6), an annual training touch (limb 1), and resourcing decisions minuted as WHS decisions when they are (limb 3). Run the gap analysis with our Officer Due-Diligence Audit — it scores each limb and exports the working file.
Two connected exposures worth checking while you're here: your obligations baseline with the WHS Compliance Requirements Checker, and — because officer exposure peaks at the catastrophic end — the state industrial manslaughter positions in our industrial manslaughter penalties tool.
General information, not legal advice. Positions verified 22 July 2026.
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FairWork Mate is an independent Australian publisher of workplace-rights information. Our content is prepared with AI assistance and draws on primary sources — the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material. It is general information, not legal advice.