What the WSH Act Asks of Employers in Brunei

The law that sets out your duties for the safety of people at work in Brunei is the Workplace Safety and Health Act, Chapter 277 (WSHA, Cap 277). Its official text is published by SHENA, the Safety, Health and Environment National Authority. This article sets out what the Act asks of employers, with the section number beside each point so you can read the wording for yourself.

In short

• If you employ people in Brunei, you must take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures needed to keep them safe and healthy at work.
• That duty also reaches people who are not your employees but may be affected by your work, such as visitors.
• When you hire contractors, check that they have the expertise for the job and have assessed its risks. A clause in the contract is not enough on its own.
• If you are prosecuted, it is for you to prove you did what was reasonably practicable, so write down what you decided and why.
• The general penalty is a fine of up to $200,000, up to 2 years in prison, or both, for an individual, and a fine of up to $10,000,000 for a company.

Who the Act is talking about

The Act applies to all workplaces unless it says otherwise (section 2). A workplace is any premises where a person is at work, is to work or customarily works (section 5(1)). The Act gives each role its own meaning:

• Employer: a person who, in the course of a trade, business, profession or undertaking, employs someone to do work under a contract of service (section 6(1)). Volunteers who work for you with your knowledge or consent on an ongoing and regular basis, and people you take on for on-the-job training or work experience, are treated as your employees (section 6(2) and (3)).
• Occupier: for most premises, the person who has charge, management or control of them, whether or not they own them (section 4).
• Principal: a person who, in connection with their own business or undertaking, engages someone other than under a contract of service to supply labour or do work for gain or reward. A contractor is a person engaged by a principal (section 4).
• Self-employed person: someone who works for gain or reward other than under a contract of service, whether or not they employ others (section 4).

One organisation, several hats

Section 10 says a person may be two or more of these at once, and that the Act may put duties on them in each capacity. A duty is not made smaller because someone else carries it too. For example, a company that employs a team, runs its own premises and hires a cleaning firm is an employer, an occupier and a principal at the same time. Each hat has its own section.

“So far as is reasonably practicable”

Most of the duties below begin with these words. The Act does not define them, so it is better not to give them a meaning the Act does not. What it does say is in section 46. If someone is prosecuted for failing to do something so far as is reasonably practicable, it is for the accused to prove that it was not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done, or that there was no better practicable means than the one used. So it is worth writing down what you decided and why.

What the Act asks of employers

Your employees (section 12(1) and (3))

Every employer must take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of employees at work. Section 12(3) lists what those measures include. The examples after each item are ours, to make the wording concrete. They are not part of the law.

• (a) Providing and maintaining a work environment that is safe, without risk to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for welfare at work. For example: walkways that are not slippery after heavy rain, clean toilets, drinking water.
• (b) Adequate safety measures for machinery, equipment, plant, articles and processes. For example: guards left on a machine, a service record for the lift or the air compressor.
• (c) No exposure to hazards arising from the arrangement, disposal, manipulation, organisation, processing, storage, transport, working or use of things in the workplace, or near it and under the employer’s control. For example: chemicals in labelled containers, stock kept clear of exits.
• (d) Developing and implementing procedures for emergencies that may arise while people are at work. For example: a fire evacuation plan with a known assembly point.
• (e) Adequate instruction, information, training and supervision. For example: an induction on a new starter’s first day.
• (f) Plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health. For example: a written way of doing a repeated task.

People who are not your employees (section 12(2) and (4))

The duty does not stop at the payroll. Section 12(2) requires every employer to take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of people who are not its employees but may be affected by any undertaking it carries on at the workplace. Visitors and delivery drivers are the kind of people this could include. Where the regulations require it, an employer must also give them the prescribed information about the parts of how it conducts its undertaking that might affect their safety or health while they are at its workplace (section 12(4)).

Other duties in Part 4

• Occupiers (section 11): take, so far as is reasonably practicable, measures to ensure the workplace, the ways in and out, and anything kept there are safe and without risks to health for every person within the premises, whether or not that person is at work or an employee of the occupier.
• Self-employed persons (section 13): take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of people who are not their employees and may be affected by any undertaking they carry on at the workplace, and give them the prescribed information where the regulations require it.
• Employers (section 18): an employer must not deduct from an employee’s pay, or take any payment from them, for anything done or provided under the Act for their safety, health or welfare. It must not dismiss or threaten to dismiss an employee because they have helped an inspector, made a good faith report to an inspector or authorised person about a safety and health matter, served in good faith on a workplace safety and health committee, or complied with a section 21 order or the Act, or plan to do any of these. Breaching either rule carries a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or both (section 18(5)).
• Others: section 16 covers manufacturers and suppliers of the machinery, equipment and hazardous substances listed in Schedule 5. Section 17 covers people who erect, install or modify the machinery or equipment listed in Part 1 of Schedule 5, and the owners, hirers or lessees of machinery moved by mechanical power. Section 19 covers occupiers of common areas.

When you hire contractors

A principal must take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of contractors, their sub-contractors and their employees while at work (section 14(1)). That duty only applies where those people are working under the principal’s direction as to the manner in which the work is carried out (section 14(2)). A principal must also take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of anyone else who may be affected by its undertaking in the workplace, including contractors who are not working under its direction (section 14(3)).

Section 14A adds duties about the contractor itself. A principal must take, so far as is reasonably practicable, the measures necessary to ensure that a contractor has the necessary expertise for the work and has taken adequate safety and health measures for what it uses (section 14A(1)). The Act says this includes ascertaining that the contractor and its employees have sufficient experience, training and any necessary licence, permit or certificate (section 14A(2)), and that the contractor has conducted a risk assessment of the risks its work poses to anyone who may be affected, and has told those people the nature of the risk and the measures or safe work procedures in place (section 14A(3)).

A principal cannot rely solely on a term in the contract saying the contractor has complied or will comply (section 14A(4)). These checks apply whether or not the contractor works under the principal’s direction, since nothing in section 14 limits them (section 14A(6)).

People at work have duties too

Section 15 applies to every person at work, your own staff included. Each person must use the protective clothing, equipment and other means provided for their safety, health and welfare so as to give the intended protection, and must co-operate with the employer or principal so they can comply with the Act (section 15(1)). No one may wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse those things (section 15(2)). A person at work who, without reasonable cause, wilfully or recklessly does something that endangers the safety or health of themselves or others is guilty of an offence (section 15(3)).

Contravening section 15(1) or (2) is an offence with a fine not exceeding $1,000 and, for a second or subsequent conviction, a fine not exceeding $2,000 (section 15(4)). Section 15(3) states no penalty of its own, so the general penalty in section 49 below applies, and a person suspected of it may be arrested without warrant (section 48(1)).

What happens if a duty is breached

Section 20 says that if any person contravenes a provision in Part 4 that imposes a duty on a person, that person is guilty of an offence. It does not set a penalty itself. Where the Act does not expressly provide one, the general penalty in section 49 applies:

• for an individual, a fine not exceeding $200,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or both;
• for a body corporate, a fine not exceeding $10,000,000;
• if the contravention continues after conviction, a further fine for each day or part of a day, not exceeding $2,000 for an individual or $5,000 for a body corporate.

A few Part 4 provisions state their own penalty, such as section 15(4) above.

Where a body corporate commits an offence with the consent or connivance of, or through neglect by, a director, manager, secretary or similar officer, that person is also guilty of the offence (section 47(1)).

Remedial orders and stop-work orders (section 21)

SHENA, the Authority appointed to administer the Act, does not have to wait for a prosecution. Where it is satisfied that work in a workplace cannot be carried on with due regard to the safety, health and welfare of persons at work, that a person has contravened a duty under the Act, or that something a person has done or failed to do poses or is likely to pose a risk to people at work, it may serve a remedial order or a stop-work order (section 21(1) and (2)). A remedial order directs the person to take measures, to the Authority’s satisfaction, within a set period. A stop-work order directs them to cease work immediately, indefinitely or until the required measures have been taken.

Failing to comply with a remedial order carries a fine not exceeding $50,000, imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both (section 21(6)). For a stop-work order it is a fine not exceeding $500,000, imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both (section 21(7)). Each also carries a further daily fine if the offence continues after conviction. A person affected by either order may appeal to the Minister within 14 days of the date of service, and the Minister’s decision is final (section 22(1)). A remedial order does not take effect while the appeal is pending, but a stop-work order must still be obeyed until it is rescinded or varied (section 22(2) and (3)).

Where to start

• Work out which hats you wear. Employer, occupier, principal, or more than one (section 10).
• Do a risk assessment. SHENA Notice 2026/WSHN/04 cites regulations 3 and 4 of the Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations: conduct a risk assessment for the persons affected by your undertaking, and eliminate foreseeable risks or, where that is not reasonably practicable, put in place appropriate and effective control measures.
• List your contractors and note what you have checked about each (section 14A).
• Write down your emergency procedures and make sure the people who need them know them (section 12(3)(d)).

Whether your workplace also needs a workplace safety and health officer or co-ordinator, a committee or an auditor depends on whether it falls within a class or description of workplace prescribed for that purpose (sections 28(1), 29(1) and 30(1)).

This article is general guidance on the Act, not legal advice for a specific situation.

Sources: Laws of Brunei, Chapter 277, Workplace Safety and Health, Revised Edition 2024 (B.L.R.O. 3/2024), published by SHENA at https://shena.gov.bn/assets/components/a.-chapter-277—wsh-act.pdf. Regulations 3 and 4 of the Workplace Safety and Health (Risk Management) Regulations are cited as stated in SHENA Notice 2026/WSHN/04.