Important: From 1 January 2012, information on this website is being reviewed and must be read in conjunction with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

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Hazardous work

The following information is published to provide industry with an overview of the changes to work health and safety laws.

Noise
Hazardous manual tasks
Confined spaces
Falls
High risk work
Demolition
Diving work

Noise

A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must manage the risk of hearing loss associated with noise.

A PCBU must ensure that workers are not exposed to noise that exceeds the exposure standard for noise.

The noise exposure standard remains the same.

A worker who is frequently required to wear PPE to protect against noise that exceeds the exposure standard must be provided with audiometric testing:

within 3 months of commencing work, and
at least every 2 years.

Hazardous manual tasks

A PCBU must manage the risk of a musculoskeletal disorder associated with a hazardous manual task and consider mandatory factors when determining controls (e.g. postures, movements, forces, vibration and duration and frequency).

A designer, importer, supplier and manufacturer duty to eliminate or minimise hazardous manual tasks, so far as is reasonably practicable, in relation to the plant or structure.

Confined spaces

A PCBU must manage the risks associated with a confined space at a workplace. Other specific duties include confined space entry permit, signage, communication, emergency procedures and a written risk assessment.

A designer, importer, supplier and manufacturer has a standard duty to eliminate or minimise entry into a confined space, so far as is reasonably practicable, in relation to the plant or structure.

Falls

The new regulation also covers falls across all workplaces and all industries.

A PCBU must:

manage the risk of a fall by manage the risk of a fall by a person from one level to another that is reasonably likely to cause injury to the person or any other person
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that any work that involves the risk of a fall is carried out on the ground or on a solid construction.

If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk of a fall then the duty holder must minimise the risk of a fall by providing adequate protection against the risk.

Adequate protection means providing and maintaining a safe system of work (administrative controls), and:

providing a fall prevention device if it is reasonably practicable to do so; or
providing a work positioning system, if it is not reasonably practicable to provide a fall prevention device; or
providing a fall arrest system, so far as is reasonably practicable, if it is not reasonably practicable to comply with either of the above.

If a duty holder implements a fall arrest system as a measure to control risk they must establish emergency and rescue procedures in relation to the use of the system.

High risk work

View our webpage on licensing and registrations for high risk work.

Demolition

Duty holder must notify of demolition work to regulator at least 5 days before work commences:

demolition of a structure or part of a structure that is loadbearing or otherwise related to the physical integrity of the structure that is at least 6 metres in height
demolition work involving loadshifting equipment on a suspended floor
demolition work involving explosives.

Demolition licensing

Existing demolition licensing arrangements to continue until the National Occupational Licensing System in 2013. For more information view our webpage on licensing and registrations for demolition work.

Diving work

The model Work Health and Safety Regulation (model WHS Regulation) is applicable for all diving work, including work conducted in the recreational dive sector.

A person who is employed as a resort diver will need to comply with these provisions because resort diving work is occupational diving. The model WHS Regulation is broken into three divisions:

general diving work
In terms of the general diving work there's two elements. It talks about the fitness of the person doing that work and also the competence of the worker. Any worker that's doing diving work must have a certificate of medical fitness issued by a doctor who's trained in occupational dive medicine. The person must also be competent. They must be trained by an RTO and that competency needs to be related to the type of work that they're doing.
managing risks e.g. dive safety log
high risk diving work
High risk diving work, includes construction work and those competencies, the fitness of the workers doing that work, must be carried out and meet the Australian Standard 2299.

Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011

There is no specific regulation for recreational diving or snorkelling, however this is covered by the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 and associated regulation.

To read more go to Recreational water activities.

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