safety news january 2012

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Safety News

January 2012

NATIONAL WHS LEGISLATION UPDATE

On 1 January 2012 new work health and safety laws commenced in the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory. The states Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania, have deferred the implementation for a further 12 months and South Australian parliament have voted to adjourn the debate on the WHS Bill until 14 February 2012, where a commencement date for the new laws is yet to be decided by parliament.

The development of the model WHS Act, the model WHS Regulations, 11 model Codes of Practice and the National Compliance and Enforcement Policy are now complete and are available for download from the Safe Work Australia website.

On 10 January 2012, Safe Work Australia published the "Worker Representation and Participation Guide". This Guide provides information on the representation and participation of workers in health and safety matters at the workplace, as well as guidance on resolving health and safety issues. It supports one of the objectives of the Work Health and Safety Act (the WHS Act), which is to provide for fair and effective workplace representation, consultation, cooperation and issue resolution in relation to work health and safety.

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Permanent
Recruitment

HELP FOR VOLUNTEERS

Safe Work Australia Chair, Mr Tom Phillips AM, has expressed concern over recent media reports regarding volunteers and the new Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. Mr Phillips is concerned inaccurate and alarmist claims made about the new WHS laws could seriously discourage volunteers and potential volunteers from undertaking volunteer work.

Safe Work Australia has set up a dedicated telephone helpline for volunteers and volunteer organisations. The new Volunteer Assistance Line will help members of the community who carry out volunteer work, to understand how new work health and safety laws affect them.

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Contracting

MAJOR CHANGES UNDER THE NEW LAWS

It is expected that a company's ability to comply with occupational health and safety laws across Australia will be simplified. Although there are significant changes to WHS laws, employers who currently comply with the various health and safety laws across Australia will be well on their way to compliance with the new regulatory system.

There are differences from state to territory and we highly recommend you check with your work health and safety authority for detailed information.

We have included more detailed information on our website, but here is a 'snap shot' of some of the more significant changes which apply across the board:

► Significant changes to the penalty structure with tougher penalities being imposed under the new laws.
► The duties of care are not defined by the nature of employment relationship. This means that the term ‘employer’ currently applied in most occupational health and safety laws is replaced with the term ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBU) and ‘employee’ is replaced with a broadly defined term of ‘worker’.
► The term ‘worker’ includes employees, volunteers, contractors, sub-contractors, apprentices, work experience students and labour hire personnel.
► The term ‘workplace’ in most jurisdictions will be broadened.
► An 'officer' must exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU complies with WHS legislation. This duty cannot be delegated.
► Individual workers will have a duty to ensure their acts or omissions do not negatively impact upon their own, or others', health and safety. Penalities will now apply to individuals.
► A new duty to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate activities with other duty holders has been introduced.
► The right of entry provisions applicable to authorised union representatives will be extended so that they may enter workplaces for health and safety purposes.

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Consultancy
Services

AUDIOMETRIC TESTING: ARE YOU COMPLYING UNDER NEW WHS LAWS?

Under the 'Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011', regular audiometric testing is a legal requirement where a worker is frequently required to use personal protective equipment to protect the worker from the risk of hearing loss associated with noise that exceeds the exposure standard for noise.

Audiometric testing should be conducted within 3 months of a worker commencing and in any event, at least every 2 years. The Code of Practice for managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work has been published by Safe Work Australia and applies to all types of work and all workplaces covered by the WHS Act where there is the potential for exposure to noise that can contribute to hearing loss.

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Leadership
Development

RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO IMPLEMENT MODEL WHS LAWS

As Safe Work Australia are continuing to develop further model Codes of Practice and guidance material to support the model laws, each state and territory work health and safety authority have also developed a range of resources including transitional arrangements to assist their jurisdiction with the transition. These resources will help duty holders to gain an understanding of the WHS laws so they can assess their current practice against changed or new requirements and make changes as necessary.

We have compiled a list on our website of useful resources that are currently available with links back to the resource.

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