Edition 89, June-July 2011

Harmonisation of WHS laws

The Commonwealth, state and territory SWA logo
governments have agreed to enact the model WHS Act and the model WHS Regulations by December 2011.

Safe Work Australia developed the Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act in 2009 To support the model WHS Act,

Safe Work Australia released draft model Work Health and Safety Regulations, priority model Codes of Practice, an Issues Paper and Consultation Regulation Impact Statement.

Public comment on these documents closed in April and the new Regulations and Codes of Practice are timetabled to be released in July.
Safe Work Australia have updated their legislative fact sheets as of 17 June 2011, available here http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Pages/COP-Factsheet.aspx 

What is happening now?
State governments have commenced tabling WHS Bills in parliament with South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland leading the way.

Safe Work Australia has the primary responsibility of improving work health and safety and workers' compensation arrangements across Australia, and the carriage of WHS Harmonisation.

For all of the documents mentioned above and for further information visit the Safe Work Australia wwebsite here http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx  

This page was generated on 15 July, 2011