Facility Manager WHS Duties and Building Compliance

Part 7.1 WHS Regulation 2025

Chemical Registers

Part 3.2 WHS Regulation 2025

Emergency Plans

Part 8.4 WHS Regulation 2025

Asbestos Registers

Asbestos register mandatory

Pre-2003 Buildings

1 July 2026

Section 26A Commencement

1 December 2026

WEL Transition Date

The facility manager must establish and maintain a register of all hazardous chemicals used, handled, or stored at the workplace as required by Part 7.1 of the WHS Regulation 2025. The register must include the current safety data sheet for each chemical, the quantity of each chemical stored, and the location where each chemical is kept. Safety data sheets must be no more than five years old and must be readily accessible to any worker who uses or may be exposed to the chemical. The facility manager must ensure that hazardous chemicals are stored in accordance with the requirements of the Dangerous Goods legislation and the relevant Australian Standards, including segregation of incompatible chemicals, provision of secondary containment, adequate ventilation, and appropriate signage. When the workplace exposure limits transition to the new WEL values on 1 December 2026, the facility manager must review the chemical register to identify substances where the new WEL is lower than the current WES value and coordinate with the safety manager to implement any additional controls required. The chemical register must be reviewed whenever a new chemical is introduced to the workplace and at least annually.

Part 3.2 of the WHS Regulation 2025 requires every PCBU to prepare and maintain an emergency plan for the workplace. The facility manager is typically responsible for developing, implementing, and testing this plan. The emergency plan must provide for the safe evacuation of all persons at the workplace, include emergency procedures for each type of foreseeable emergency including fire, chemical spill, medical emergency, severe weather, and security incident, identify the emergency services that may need to be contacted, and describe the training, information, and instruction provided to workers regarding the emergency procedures. The facility manager must ensure that emergency exits, evacuation routes, assembly areas, fire detection and suppression systems, spill containment equipment, and first aid facilities are maintained in operational condition at all times. Emergency drills must be conducted at intervals appropriate to the risk profile of the workplace. For facilities storing hazardous chemicals above the manifest quantities specified in the WHS Regulation 2025, the emergency plan must also address the potential impact on neighbouring premises and the community.

For any building constructed before 31 December 2003, the facility manager must ensure that an asbestos register and asbestos management plan are in place as required by Part 8.4 of the WHS Regulation 2025. The asbestos register must identify every instance of asbestos or assumed asbestos-containing material in the building, record its location, type, condition, and accessibility, and be reviewed at least every five years by a competent person. The asbestos management plan must describe how the identified asbestos will be managed, including the monitoring schedule, the circumstances under which removal will be required, and the procedures for managing the risk if asbestos-containing material is disturbed during maintenance or refurbishment work. The facility manager must ensure that every contractor engaged to work on the building is provided with the asbestos register before work commences, and that no work that may disturb asbestos-containing material proceeds without an asbestos removal plan prepared by a licensed asbestos assessor. Failure to maintain an asbestos register carries substantial penalties and is one of the most common compliance failures identified during regulatory inspections of commercial and industrial premises.

The facility manager must ensure that all plant at the workplace is maintained, inspected, and tested in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, applicable Australian Standards, and the WHS Regulation 2025. Plant includes pressure vessels, lifting equipment, electrical installations, ventilation systems, fire protection systems, and any machinery used in the workplace. Part 5.1 of the WHS Regulation 2025 requires the PCBU to manage risks associated with plant by ensuring it is used for its intended purpose, maintained in a safe condition, inspected at prescribed intervals, and that defective plant is removed from service until repaired. The facility manager must maintain a plant register that records each item of plant, its maintenance schedule, inspection dates, and the qualifications of persons who performed the maintenance. Common failures include overdue inspections of pressure vessels and lifting equipment, electrical installations that have not been tested and tagged within the prescribed interval, fire detection and suppression systems with expired certifications, and emergency lighting that does not function during a power outage. Each of these failures exposes the PCBU to enforcement action and creates genuine risk of serious injury or death in the event of an emergency.