criteria-generator

WHS Audit Criteria Generator

Purpose

Build a legally grounded, industry-specific WHS audit criteria checklist through a structured intake conversation, followed by research, then structured document generation. The output is a .docx audit checklist that the auditor takes to site — blank columns for rating, observations, and recommendations that they complete during the audit.

The criteria must reflect the real legislative obligations, not generic guidance. The research phase is what separates a good checklist from a superficial one: you need to understand what actually goes wrong in this industry and what the law requires.

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Phase 1 — Intake Questions

Ask these questions conversationally, not as a form dump. If the user has already provided some answers in the conversation, extract them and only ask for what's missing.

Required information:

1. Jurisdiction — Which state or territory does this audit relate to? Present as a brief list: Queensland (Qld), New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic), Western Australia (WA), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (Tas), Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Northern Territory (NT), or Commonwealth (Cth).

2. Industry / sector — What is the primary industry or workplace type? (e.g., warehousing and storage, construction, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, aged care, hospitality, transport and logistics, mining, agriculture, etc.)

3. Workplace specifics — Ask a focused set of follow-up questions based on the industry. See Phase 2 below for when to ask these; ask only the ones that are relevant to the sector nominated.

Once you have jurisdiction and industry, proceed immediately to Phase 2 research — do not wait for the workplace specifics. You can ask for workplace specifics while research is completing.

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Phase 2 — Research

This is the most important phase. The quality of the criteria depends entirely on what you find here. Do not skip or rush it.

2.1 Legislative framework

Read the relevant reference file for the nominated jurisdiction:

• references/jurisdiction-frameworks.md — covers the primary Act, Regulation, and key Codes of Practice for each Australian jurisdiction.

Identify which codes of practice are directly applicable to the industry and workplace. You will cite these throughout the criteria.

2.2 SafeWork Australia incident data

Search online for SafeWork Australia's work-related injury and disease statistics for the nominated industry. Key sources to find and review:

• SafeWork Australia Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities report (most recent)
• SafeWork Australia Key Work Health and Safety Statistics report (most recent)
• Industry-specific pages on safeworkaustralia.gov.au (e.g., agriculture, construction, manufacturing, warehousing)
• The relevant state regulator's incident data (e.g., WorkSafe Qld, SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe Vic) for industry-specific hazard alerts or incident summaries

What you're looking for: what are the leading causes of serious injury, illness, or death in this industry? What hazard categories appear repeatedly in investigations? This shapes which themes get the most criteria and where the emphasis falls.

Search queries to run (adapt to the actual industry):

• SafeWork Australia [industry] work-related injuries statistics site:safeworkaustralia.gov.au
• [State] workplace incidents [industry] 2023 2024 site:[regulator].gov.au
• [Industry] WHS hazard alert [state] fatality investigation

2.3 Industry-specific guidance

Search for guidance documents, codes, and standards specific to the combination of jurisdiction + industry:

• Relevant Safe Work Australia model codes of practice
• State regulator guidance notes for the industry
• Australian Standards referenced in the regulation or codes (e.g., AS/NZS 1715 for RPE, AS 2865 for confined spaces, AS 4024 for plant safeguarding)
• Industry association safety guidance (e.g., Australian Logistics Council, National Retail Association, Australian Industry Group)

2.4 Workplace-specific follow-up questions

Based on what you found in 2.2 and 2.3, ask the user targeted questions about the specific workplace. These should be informed by the research — ask about the hazard categories that are statistically significant for the industry. Examples for warehousing:

• Is forklift / powered mobile plant used on site? (LP gas, electric, reach trucks?)
• Is there working at height? (mezzanines, pallet racking, loading docks?)
• Are hazardous chemicals stored or handled? (if yes, what types broadly?)
• Is there manual handling of heavy or awkward loads?
• What is the approximate worker count and are there on-hire or labour-hire workers?
• Are there contractors on site? (cleaning, maintenance, delivery drivers?)
• Is there a cold storage or refrigerated area?
• Shift work / after-hours operations?
• Any client-specified focus areas or known incidents?

Calibrate these questions to the industry. For construction, ask about high-risk construction work, scaffolding, and excavation. For healthcare, ask about biological hazards and patient handling. Use the research to decide what matters.

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Phase 3 — Criteria Development

3.1 Theme structure

Organise criteria into 5–8 themes appropriate for the industry. Themes should reflect the actual risk profile revealed by the research, not a generic template. Common themes include (adapt as appropriate):

• WHS Management System Foundation
• Hazard Identification and Risk Management
• Traffic Management and Mobile Plant
• Working at Heights / Fall Prevention
• Manual Tasks and Ergonomics
• Hazardous Chemicals and Dangerous Goods
• Emergency Management and First Aid
• People, Training, and Supervision
• Plant, Equipment, and Electrical Safety
• Psychosocial Hazards
• Contractor and Visitor Management

The Nitto Kohki (warehousing) audit used five themes as a guide. For a complex site you might use eight. For a simple office you might use four. Use judgement.

3.2 Criterion format

Each criterion must have:

• Ref — Sequential reference number within theme (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2)
• Criterion — What is being assessed, written as a clear, auditable statement (e.g., "The PCBU has documented a hazard identification and risk management procedure that workers are trained in and that is actively implemented.")
• Legislative basis — The specific section of the Act, Regulation, or Code of Practice that creates the obligation (e.g., "WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 38; Managing the Work Environment and Facilities COP")
• Rating — Blank (C / OFI / OBS / NC — completed by auditor on site)
• Observations — Blank (auditor completes on site)
• Recommendations — Blank (completed post-site or by checklist-completer skill)

Write criteria as auditable statements — something you can observe, verify, or ask about. Avoid vague criteria like "Is WHS managed well?" Prefer specific criteria like "Safety data sheets (SDS) are available at the point of use for all hazardous chemicals on site."

Aim for 10–20 criteria per theme, calibrated to the risk significance of that theme. High-risk themes (e.g., traffic management in warehousing) warrant more criteria than lower-risk themes.

3.3 Depth and specificity

Go deep. The Nitto Kohki checklist had 103 items across five themes. A good criteria set for a complex industrial workplace should have 80–120 items total. For a simpler workplace (small office, retail) 40–60 may suffice. Use the research findings to decide where to apply depth — if racking collapse and forklift incidents are the leading causes of serious injury in warehousing, the traffic and plant themes should have more criteria, not fewer.

Reference Australian Standards where they create practical obligations (e.g., test and tag per AS/NZS 3760, racking inspections per AS 4084, RPE per AS/NZS 1715).

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Phase 4 — Document Generation

Generate the checklist as a .docx file using python-docx.

4.1 Document structure

Cover block:
  WHS Compliance Audit — [Industry] Sector
  [Client Name if known, otherwise "[Client Name]"]
  Jurisdiction: [State]
  Prepared by: Safetysure Pty Ltd
  Date: [current date]
  Status: DRAFT — FOR REVIEW

Classification key table:
  C = Conformance | OFI = Opportunity for Improvement |
  OBS = Observation | NC = Non-Conformance

For each theme:
  Theme header row (merged, dark blue #1F3564, white bold text)
  Column header row: Ref | Criterion | Legislative Basis | Rating | Observations | Recommendations
  One row per criterion

4.2 Column widths (approximate, adjust to fit content)

Column	Width
Ref	1.2 cm
Criterion	6.5 cm
Legislative Basis	4.5 cm
Rating	1.8 cm
Observations	4.5 cm
Recommendations	4.5 cm

4.3 Formatting

• Table borders: thin black lines, all cells
• Theme header rows: background #1F3564, text white, bold, 11pt, merged across all columns
• Column header rows: background #2E74B5, text white, bold, 9pt
• Criterion rows: white background, 9pt text, top-aligned
• Rating / Observations / Recommendations cells: leave blank (light grey fill #F2F2F2 to signal "fill this in")
• Font throughout: Calibri

4.4 File output

Save to the workspace folder with a descriptive filename: WHS Audit Criteria — [Industry] ([Jurisdiction]) — [YYYYMMDD].docx

Tell the user what was generated, how many themes, total criteria count, and the key research findings that shaped the emphasis of the checklist.

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Phase 5 — Handoff note

After delivering the checklist, briefly tell the user:

1. What the checklist covers and why each theme was included (1–2 sentences each)
2. Which codes of practice or standards they should have on hand during the audit
3. That the completed checklist (with ratings and observations filled in, plus any transcript from the site visit) can be fed into the checklist-completer skill to draft ratings and recommendations, which then feeds into the audit-report plugin to produce the client reports

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Quality standard

Before saving, check:

• Every criterion has a legislative basis (no orphan criteria)
• All reference numbers are sequential and correct
• No themes are empty
• The number of criteria is appropriate for the complexity of the workplace
• The research findings are reflected in the theme emphasis (high-risk areas have more criteria)