Providing a “safe system of work” is the essence of the general duties that employers have to their employees under workplace health and safety regulations. Despite this, consistent and appropriate definition of what constitutes a safe system of work is almost non-existent. Available definitions tend to confuse a safe system of work with management practices intended to bring about a safe system, or conflate the broad system suggested in general duties clauses with procedures or work methods that are focused on particular hazards or tasks. This article develops a definition of safe systems of work which recognises the broad scope of the concept and includes psychological health and return to work processes. This definition can be used by a range of stakeholders to better communicate the scope of occupational health and safety duties and more consistently assess whether a safe system has been provided both before and after incidents occur.

提供“安全的工作系统”是雇主根据工作场所健康和安全法规对其雇员承担的一般职责的本质。尽管如此，关于什么构成安全工作系统的一致和适当的定义几乎不存在。可用的定义往往将安全工作系统与旨在实现安全系统的管理实践相混淆，或者将一般职责条款中建议的广泛系统与侧重于特定危险或任务的程序或工作方法混为一谈。本文制定了安全工作系统的定义，该定义承认该概念的广泛范围，包括心理健康和重返工作流程。