WHS Responsibilities and Visitor Safety

1 day ago
4 min read

When we think about workplace health and safety, our minds often go straight to employees, contractors, or maybe even volunteers. But what about visitors? People who pop in briefly, attend a meeting, drop off a parcel, or tour your facility?

Under Australian WHS laws, visitors have a right to be safe – and businesses have a legal duty to protect them.

In this article, we’ll break down WHS responsibilities for visitor safety:

Who counts as a visitor
What duties apply to businesses and visitors
What risks visitors might face
What practical controls help keep them safe
PCBU responsibilities for psychosocial hazards following a traumatic event

Who Is a ‘Visitor’?

A visitor is anyone who enters a workplace but is not an employee, contractor, or volunteer carrying out work.

This includes:

Customers and clients
Delivery drivers and couriers
Family or friends visiting staff
Auditors, inspectors, or consultants
Students on placement
Job applicants attending interviews

Even if their visit is brief or infrequent, businesses must ensure they are not put at risk while on-site.

What Are the WHS Duties for Visitors?

Visitors have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety, and to follow any reasonable instructions or safety procedures they are given. But ultimately, it’s the business owner or manager (the 'Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking' – PCBU) who holds the greater legal responsibility.

Visitors must:

Comply with any instructions, safety signs, or policies
Not interfere with or misuse any safety equipment
Report any hazards or incidents they see

They’re not expected to be safety experts – it’s your job to set them up for success.

Business Owners: Your WHS Obligations to Visitors

As a PCBU, your legal obligations are to:

Eliminate or minimise risks to visitors, so far as is reasonably practicable
Identify and assess potential hazards they may encounter
Provide relevant safety information (e.g., via a visitor induction)
Monitor high-risk areas and ensure visitors don’t enter unsafe zones
Respond appropriately to incidents involving visitors

Put simply: if someone enters your workplace, they should leave in the same condition they arrived – safe, unharmed, and informed.

Common Hazards Visitors Might Face

Visitors often don’t know your workplace like your team does. They may not see warning signs, understand site-specific risks, or know how to respond in an emergency.

Common hazards for visitors include:

Slips, trips and falls (wet floors, uneven surfaces, cluttered walkways)
Traffic hazards (vehicles, forklifts, reversing trucks)
Exposure to chemicals, noise or airborne contaminants
Electrical hazards (especially in workshops or construction sites)
Aggressive behaviour in high-stress environments like hospitals or schools

Knowing these risks allows you to plan for them.

Practical Controls That Work

Keeping visitors safe doesn’t need to be complicated, but it must be deliberate. Here are some simple yet effective controls:

Sign-in/sign-out procedures to account for all visitors on-site
Clear signage and wayfinding to prevent them entering high-risk areas
Visitor inductions (even brief ones) to communicate site hazards and emergency procedures
Hi-vis vests or PPE if they are entering operational areas
Access restrictions – use swipe cards, escorts or locked doors where needed
Supervision and escorting where risks are higher
Emergency planning – ensure visitors know evacuation routes and assembly points

Documentation matters too. Even a short checklist can help standardise how you manage visitor safety across different teams or shifts.

Keeping It Proactive, Not Reactive

Too often, visitor safety only becomes a priority after something goes wrong. But being proactive sends a powerful message – to your team, your customers, and regulators – that safety isn’t just for workers. It’s embedded in your culture.

PCBU Responsibilities for Psychosocial Hazards Following a Traumatic Event

Under work health and safety legislation, PCBUs (persons conducting a business or undertaking) must manage health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable – and this includes risks to psychological health.

This duty extends to any person at the workplace, not just workers. That includes visitors, clients, customers, and contractors.

So, if a visitor is involved in or witnesses a traumatic event at your workplace – such as a serious injury, violent incident, or sudden death – the PCBU has a duty to:

Take immediate steps to ensure their safety
Assess and respond to psychological harm
Provide reasonable support to reduce the risk of long-term impact

Is a Visitor Entitled to EAP or Counselling Support?

While there’s no legal requirement to offer visitors access to your business's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) (since it's generally designed for employees), a PCBU should consider offering access to trauma support or crisis counselling in certain cases, especially where:

The visitor was directly involved or at high risk
The event was extreme or violent in nature
The psychological impact is obvious or likely
They were on-site under your direction or control

Offering temporary access to an EAP, a referral to a community counselling service, or direct support from a trauma-informed psychologist is best practice – and aligns with your WHS obligations.

What Does ‘Reasonably Practicable’ Support Look Like?

It could include:

Immediate psychological first aid (e.g. comforting, stabilising, offering a quiet space)
Follow-up contact to check on the visitor’s wellbeing
Referral to external trauma counselling services
Offering debriefing (group or one-on-one, if relevant)
Documenting the support provided in your incident and response log

Not every incident requires formal counselling – but traumatic events should trigger a risk-based response, regardless of whether the affected person is staff or not.

Bottom Line

While you're not legally obliged to provide EAP services to visitors, your overarching WHS duty of care means you are required to take reasonable steps to protect any person from psychological harm at your workplace.

Offering trauma support is not only a reflection of strong safety leadership – it also reduces risk, protects your reputation, and supports recovery for everyone involved.