Hazard register
A hazard register is the live list of known hazards in a workplace, with their risk rating, current controls, residual risk, responsible person and review date. It is the central register that feeds risk assessments, SWMS, training matrices and inspection schedules.
Legal context
The hazard register is the organisational memory of "what could hurt people here". It is built from job analyses, near-miss reports, inspection findings, incident investigations, and worker raise-it submissions. Each row names the hazard, the activities where it appears, who could be harmed, the consequence and likelihood ratings, the current controls (with hierarchy-of-control level), the residual risk, the responsible person and the next review date. ISO 45001 Clause 6.1.2 anticipates this register as the output of the hazard-identification process. The register is the source of truth that downstream documents (SWMS, SOP, toolbox talk, training matrix) draw from.
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Related terms
Risk assessment
A risk assessment is the structured analysis of a hazard: what is the hazard, who could be harmed and how, what is the likelihood and consequence, what controls reduce the risk, and what residual risk remains. The output drives the hierarchy-of-control decisions and the SWMS / SOP / register entries that flow from it.
Hierarchy of control
The hierarchy of control is the rank-ordered preference for risk treatment: eliminate the hazard, then substitute, then isolate, then engineer, then administer, then PPE as a last resort. Higher controls reduce risk more reliably than lower controls because they do not depend on people behaving correctly under stress.
Risk matrix
A risk matrix multiplies likelihood (how often the harm might occur) by consequence (how bad it would be if it did) to produce a risk rating — typically Low / Medium / High / Extreme. The 5×5 matrix is the dominant format in Australian WHS practice.
Platform pillars
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47 WHS and HSWA terms with legal context, FAQs and regulator references.