Victoria’s officer due diligence duty: lead time to April 2028
Victoria's new officer duty has a start date, not a prosecution behind it.
Victoria has written a positive officer due diligence duty into the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. It is in the Act, with a planned start in April 2028, which gives boards time to build the record before anyone asks for it.
What the Act and WorkSafe Victoria say
The Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Dangerous Goods) Act 2026 (Act No. 27 of 2026) received Royal Assent on 4 August 2026. WorkSafe Victoria’s dangerous goods reform page says the new legislation is planned to commence in April 2028, to give industry time to prepare. The Act’s own commencement clause is clearer still: provisions come into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed, and if a provision has not come into operation before 26 April 2028, it comes into operation on that day.
Among the broader OHS changes WorkSafe lists is a new duty for an officer of a body corporate to exercise due diligence. The Act inserts section 39AA. In short: if a body corporate has a duty or obligation under the OHS Act or the regulations, an officer must exercise due diligence to ensure the body corporate complies.
Victoria sits outside the model WHS laws. It is an OHS Act duty. Read the Victorian text, not model WHS commentary.
Not live law yet
The officer due diligence duty described here is not in force today. It is planned to start in April 2028, and on 26 April 2028 at the latest if it isn't proclaimed earlier.
A board that starts now will have dated briefings and decisions to show. One that starts in 2028 will be writing them up after the fact.
What “due diligence” includes in the Act’s own framing
Section 39AA defines due diligence as including taking reasonable steps to:
- Acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of workplace health and safety.
- Gain an understanding of the nature of the body’s operations, including dangerous goods handling where relevant, and the hazards and risks of those operations.
- Ensure the body has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety in workplaces or where dangerous goods are handled.
- Ensure appropriate processes for receiving and considering information, and responding in a timely way, about incidents, hazards and risks.
- Ensure the body has processes for meeting its duties under the Act and regulations, and puts them into practice. The Act's examples include reporting notifiable incidents, consulting workers, complying with notices, and training and instruction.
- Check that the resources and processes in steps 3 to 5 are in place and being used.
For company secretaries and WHS leads, those limbs map onto evidence you can start collecting now.
Building the trail while the window is open
Board or officer briefings with dates, topics and who attended. Refresh after material law or operations change.
Notes or papers that show officers engaged with how the business runs: plant, people, sites, and dangerous goods handling where it applies. A generic risk appetite statement will not stand in for understanding these operations.
Budget lines, competent people, procedures that run at the workface, and a way to show they get used. The Act’s language is “has available for use, and uses.”
A loop from site or HSE into the officer layer, with timestamps and decisions on incidents, hazards and risks.
A calendar of the routine duties: notifiable incident reports, worker consultation, responses to notices, and training, each with an owner and a date it was last done.
Named ownership of the diligence pack for the board, and a last review date against the current operations map.
None of that certifies compliance. It means the record exists before anyone asks for it.
How this sits next to model WHS
NSW and other model WHS jurisdictions already have officer due diligence language many readers know. Victoria’s reform is a local OHS Act insertion with a published industry prep window. Check the OHS Act text and WorkSafe Victoria for Victorian officer questions.
Dangerous goods storage, handling and transport reforms sit beside this duty in the same amendment package. If your business handles dangerous goods, read WorkSafe’s reform pages for the wider change set. This article stays on the officer diligence trail.
Limits
This is not legal advice, and the duty is not in force yet. It can be proclaimed earlier than 26 April 2028, so watch WorkSafe Victoria and the Victorian legislation site. Ask your lawyer or adviser how section 39AA will apply to your officers.
To keep officer briefings, decisions and incident follow-up together before April 2028, request a demo.
Sources
- Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Dangerous Goods) Act 2026 (Vic) : as made
- Authorised PDF : Act No. 27 of 2026 (assent 4 August 2026; s2 commencement / 26 April 2028 default; s39AA officer due diligence)
- WorkSafe Victoria : Dangerous goods reform (planned April 2028 commencement; lists new officer due diligence duty among broader OHS changes)
