Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025
208Guarding
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208 Guarding
208 Guarding
(1) This section applies if guarding is used as a control measure in relation to plant at a workplace.
(2) The person with management or control of the plant must ensure that—
(a) if access to the area of the plant requiring guarding is not necessary during operation, maintenance or cleaning of the plant—the guarding is a permanently fixed physical barrier, or
(b) if access to the area of the plant requiring guarding is necessary during operation, maintenance or cleaning of the plant—the guarding is an interlocked physical barrier that allows access to the area being guarded at times when that area does not present a risk and prevents access to that area at any other time, or
(c) if it is not reasonably practicable to use guarding referred to in paragraph (a) or (b)—the guarding used is a physical barrier that can only be altered or removed by the use of tools, or
(d) if it is not reasonably practicable to use guarding referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c)—the guarding includes a presence-sensing safeguarding system that eliminates a risk arising from the area of the plant requiring guarding while a person or a part of a person is in the area being guarded.
Maximum penalty—
(a) for an individual—73 penalty units, or
(b) for a body corporate—364 penalty units.
(3) The person with management or control of the plant must ensure that the guarding—
(a) is of solid construction and securely mounted so as to resist impact or shock, and
(b) makes bypassing or disabling of the guarding, whether deliberately or by accident, as difficult as is reasonably practicable, and
(c) does not create a risk in itself, and
(d) is properly maintained.
Maximum penalty—
(a) for an individual—73 penalty units, or
(b) for a body corporate—364 penalty units.
(4) If the plant to be guarded contains moving parts that may break or cause workpieces to be ejected from the plant, the person with management or control of the plant must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the guarding will control a risk from those broken or ejected parts and workpieces.