Small Business Health & Safety Checklist
A practical checklist to help Australian small business owners meet their WHS and OHS obligations - covering physical safety and psychosocial hazards.
What's in this small busines health and safety checklist
This checklist walks you through six key areas of workplace health and safety compliance:
- Leadership and safety culture
- Physical hazard identification and control
- Psychosocial hazard management
- Incident reporting and emergency preparedness
- Return to work
- Ongoing compliance and documentation
Each section contains clear, actionable items so you can quickly see what's in place and where the gaps are.
How to use this checklist
Work through each section and mark every item your business currently has in place. If you answer "no" to any item, note it as a gap - not a failure, but a starting point.
Use your results to prioritise the areas that need the most attention, and revisit the checklist at least once a year or whenever there are changes to your team, processes or legislation.
Why health and safety checklists matter
In Australia, WHS and OHS obligations extend beyond physical hazards. Since 2021, all jurisdictions have introduced legal requirements to identify and manage psychosocial hazards too - things like excessive workload, bullying, poor support and role ambiguity.
Non-compliance carries real regulatory risk. A structured checklist helps small business owners move from guesswork to a systematic approach, protecting both their people and their business.
FAQs
How often should a small business review its WHS and OHS compliance?
At a minimum, your WHS and OHS policies and performance should be formally reviewed once a year. You should also trigger a review whenever there are changes to legislation, work processes, equipment or personnel - not just on an annual schedule.
Does WHS compliance apply to contractors and visitors, not just employees?
Yes. As a small business owner, your duty of care extends to everyone who enters your workplace - employees, contractors and visitors alike.
This means your hazard identification, safety controls and incident reporting processes need to account for all people on site, not just your direct staff.
What records does a small business need to keep for WHS compliance?
At a minimum, small businesses should be documenting workplace inspections, hazard and risk registers, incident reports, training records, safe work procedures, emergency management plans and risk assessments.
These records need to be securely stored and kept current - they may be requested by a regulator in the event of an incident or audit, and gaps in documentation can expose your business to significant legal and financial risk.
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Answers to the frequently asked questions.
Our last EAP was barely touched. Why would this be different?+
Most EAPs go unused because of how they're accessed, not because staff don't need them. Phoning a stranger, explaining yourself, then waiting weeks is enough to stop most people before they start. Foremind removes all three steps: staff see real counsellor profiles, pick someone themselves, and book the same day.
If you already have a provider, the question worth asking is what your current utilisation is. Most traditional EAPs sit in low single digits, which means you're paying for cover your people aren't reaching. If yours is being used, staff can get seen quickly, and it covers your psychosocial obligations, there's no reason to move. If not, it's worth knowing what you're getting for the spend.
Do you offer 24/7 support?+
Yes. A 24/7 after-hours crisis line means staff can reach someone immediately at any hour, including nights and weekends.
Counselling appointments are also available outside standard business hours, so shift-based and on-call teams aren't limited to a nine-to-five window. Those are two different things, and it's worth checking any provider offers both rather than just the crisis line.
Are your EAP counsellors based in Australia?+
Yes. Every practitioner on the platform holds current membership with an Australian professional body and practises under Australian standards, codes of ethics and disciplinary frameworks. There are no offshore call centres.
Practitioners hold membership with the Australian Counselling Association, the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, or the Australian Association of Social Workers, along with a current Working with Children or Vulnerable People Check.
How much does an EAP cost?+
Pricing is usually per employee per month, based on total headcount rather than how many people use the service. Costs vary widely depending on whether sessions are bundled in and whether compliance tooling is included.
A more useful comparison is cost per employee who actually uses it. An EAP with 2% utilisation can work out several times more expensive per person helped than one that gets used. Foremind offers pay-as-you-go, inclusive session plans and compliance-inclusive plans, with discounted pricing for not-for-profits and charities.
For full breakdown of our plans, see our EAP pricing page or request a quote for a tailored proposal.
What information does an employer receive about EAP usage?+
Nothing that could identify anyone. All counselling is completely confidential and all reporting is anonymous - you'll never see who booked, when, or what was discussed.
What you do see is the aggregated picture: how many people are using it, what psychosocial risks are prevalent in the business, and which teams are under pressure. Enough to know the investment is working and where to act, never enough to identify a person. Reporting thresholds mean small teams can't be reverse-engineered from the data.
Does having an EAP meet an employer's psychosocial duty of care?+
No. An EAP is a control measure, and a valuable one, but it only addresses harm after it has occurred. It doesn't identify hazards, assess risk, or evidence that controls are working.
Australian WHS law requires you to identify psychosocial hazards, assess the risk, control it so far as is reasonably practicable, and review whether those controls are working — with documented evidence at each step. Offering counselling on its own leaves three of those four steps undocumented.
Foremind covers both in one platform. See how the compliance side works in our product tour.