All workers have a right to work in a healthy and safe environment. The information provided here is a brief overview of what health and safety rights under Victorian legislation.

Employers have a common law duty to provide a "reasonably safe" workplace. On top of this, there are tough laws to ensure your rights in this respect are safeguarded. There is always room for improvement and a need for more resources for enforcement but Victoria has a relatively effective health and safety regime.

There are four main acts of parliament dealing with Health and Safety in Victoria . These are the:
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 , which deals with health, safety and welfare in the workplace

- Dangerous Goods Act 1985 , which deals with dangerous goods and explosives

- Equipment (Public Safety) Act 1994 , which deals with high-risk equipment used on private property or in public places

- Road Transport (Dangerous Goods) Act 1995 , which enables federal legislation (the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Act 1995 , Commonwealth) dealing with the transport of dangerous goods by road to be administered and enforced in Victoria .

For most workers in Victoria the most relevant piece of legislation is the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1985 ('the Act'). Under this Act your employer must provide you with a healthy and safe workplace. This could involve guarding machinery, making sure that the chemicals you work with are safe and ensuring that the systems of work are healthy and safe. It also includes providing adequate facilities such as toilets, lunch rooms and so on. It also means that the employer must identify the hazards you might face at the workplace, assess the risk these hazards pose and take steps to prevent or reduce those risks.

A hazard is something or a set of circumstances that could cause you harm, and a risk is the likelihood that the hazard will in fact do so. Hazards may be physical (eg: unguarded machinery, repetitive work), chemical (eg: asbestos, isocyanates), biological (eg: legionnaires disease, tuberculosis) or psychological (eg: stress, bullying).

Under the Act, you must cooperate with the steps taken by your employer to protect health and safety in the workplace to the extent you are able. So if the employer trains you to do a job in a certain way because it is safer, they must make it possible for you to do as they say.

You must not endanger fellow workers by your actions or omissions. Basically, this means you should follow the workplace safety procedures (where they have given you the appropriate training, tools and resources). You should also avoid anything your employer might describe as 'horseplay' or 'pranks', which could go wrong and cause injury or illness.

Further, employees are protected under the Act: they cannot be dismissed or have their position altered because they have made a complaint regarding health and safety.

Health and safety rights are not limited to direct employees. Anyone present at the workplace is protected - including sub-contracted and agency workers. Even visitors and others not directly under the control of the employer are protected.

Fishing is one of the highest risk work activities and it is important for everyone involved to make sure that the workplace is safe and healthy. Fishing deaths occur at a rate of 117 deaths per 100,000 persons per year, well above the all workforce average of 5.5 deaths. Drowning is the most common cause of death with most incidents occurring while collecting and processing the catch. Many of these deaths could have been prevented if safety procedures were in place, particularly the wearing of personal flotation devices.