(Just In) Workplace Health and Safety laws Amendments in every Australian jurisdiction.
In the third quarter of 2023, significant amendments were made to workplace health and safety laws in every Australian jurisdiction. We have listed a majority of the inclusions below but please do not hesitate to contact our team of advisors at HRAnywhere if you have any questions:
National
Increased maximum available fines and jail times for a breach of the WHS Act.
Recommended penalties for industrial manslaughter.
Clarification of the operation of Category-1 offences to give regulators more confidence to pursue reckless or negligence company officers.
Changes to the Commonwealth WHS Act banning insurance against penalties, adding negligence as a fault element to the reckless conduct offence, and enhancing Comcare's powers to acquire information.
Safe Work Australia Act was amended to enhance their information-gathering powers.
The Australian Human Rights Commission released a suite of resources to help employers satisfy the new WHS-style positive duty in the Sex Discrimination Act.
Laws were introduced to implement a key recommendation from the Sex Discrimination Commissioner's review of parliamentary workplaces.
Many additional workers gained access to paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave.
Provisions protecting FDV victims from workplace discrimination were included in the Closing Loopholes Bill.
ACT
Adopted the national model WHS regulations explicitly requiring PCBUs to manage psychosocial risks through risk management provisions, while joining a subgroup of jurisdictions prescribing the use of the hierarchy of controls for these risks.
Introduced WHS Codes of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work, and on managing the risks of airborne crystalline silica.
WorkSafe reminded PCBUs of their new WHS duty to notify it of actual or suspected incidents of workplace sexual assault.
WorkSafe also reminded PCBUs of their WHS duty to tackle workplace sexual harassment.
A Bill clarifying that the ACT's WHS Act applied to parliamentarians and their support workers passed Parliament.
NSW
Introduced a WHS Amendment Bill tripling the maximum penalty for category-1 breaches like recklessness, increasing all other WHS fines by 40%, introducing "prohibited asbestos notices", and giving police powers under the WHS Act.
SafeWork launched a WHS planning tool for extreme weather and commenced reviewing seven old Codes of Practice.
Resources Regulator warned against over-relying on WHS technologies like collision-avoidance systems.
Announced Parliamentary inquiry into the WHS standards for minerals mining.
NT
WHS Regulations further amended to require PCBUs to apply the hierarchy of controls when complying with their duty to tackle psychosocial risks through a risk management process.
Introduced new WHS Code of Practice for tower cranes, made changes to 11 existing WHS Codes, and postponed the start date of its new WHS-style electrical safety laws.
WorkSafe announced a 6 month trial whereby inspectors would wear body cameras to help them collect evidence.
QLD
Introduced of an Amendment Regulation to reduce the lead (Pb) risks faced by workers in mineral mines.
New WHS Code of Practice for amusement devices to support regulations.
Introduction of 18 sleep hygiene guidelines for shift workers that addressed unique shift-work challenges overlooked by traditional advice.
SA
Introduced WHS Amendment Bill creating the offence of industrial manslaughter with maximum penalties of 20 years' imprisonment for individuals and $18 million for bodies corporate.
WHS Regulations explicitly requiring PCBUs to manage psychosocial risks through the risk management process and mandating the use of the hierarchy of controls for this.
WHS amendments expressly prohibiting the uncontrolled processing of engineered stone and updating a number of references to Australian Standards.
SafeWork announced its inspectors were being provided with body-worn cameras to encourage respectful interactions, allow complaints to be easily investigated and provide transparency.
TAS
Introduced WHS Amendment Bill to adopt 10 changes made to the national model WHS laws, including those banning insurance against safety penalties, and adding gross negligence as a fault element to the reckless-conduct offence.
Introduced Bill adding nine types of cancer, including three female-specific diseases, to the list of cancers that were presumed to be caused by firefighting duties for workers' comp purposes.
Recommended introducing a ‘points system’ for traumatic exposures, where workers are allocated points when exposed to certain incidents, and automatically referred for psychological assessment when they reach a designated number.
VIC
Employers that collected COVID-19 "vaccination information", in accordance with special OHS Amendment Regulations, were instructed to destroy the information, with the legislative instrument expiring.
The Industry Standard for the safe use of elevating work platforms was amended to include more stringent spotter and guarding rules.
The latest Australian Dangerous Goods Code commenced in the State.
a Greens Bill expanded the list of cancers presumed to be caused by firefighting for workers' comp purposes.
WA
Launch of a "speak up" campaign and other programs aimed at tackling bullying, sexual harassment and gender inequality in the resources sector and elsewhere.
New legislative requirements and safety codes were recommended and promised in response to a tanker trailer explosion that created a 17-metre-long crater in a road and threw metal shrapnel hundreds of metres.
A draft WHS Code on managing electrical risks was released for feedback.
Presumptive workers' compensation laws for certain workers with PTSD were extended to an additional class of workers.