Due diligence in the operation and maintenance of heritage assets*

摘要

Australian workplace safety legislation places specific duties on asset owners and operators, including the requirement to demonstrate that diligent decisions have been made and carried out in the safe management of their assets. A layer of significant complexity is added when an asset is heritage-listed. These obligations place significant importance on heritage-listed asset owners' and operators' decisions, especially given that the safety measures that are considered reasonable are only ever determined in a court of law after an incident. Relevant issues are identified with the current approaches to safety-related engineering decisions in heritage contexts. A discussion is then provided of the context within which these approaches sit, including legislation and good practice, and how current approaches address (or fail to address) critical legislative aspects. Finally, an approach is presented that addresses these problems in an efficient and transparent manner, and its value is demonstrated through case studies.