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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Harmonised work health and safety laws begin

New work health and safety legislation commenced in Queensland on 1 January 2012 and it is important that employers and other duty holders are aware of how their businesses are affected.

To smooth the shift to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (PDF, 1.42 MB) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (PDF, 2.70 MB) a number of transitional arrangements will apply.

These arrangements delay the requirement to comply with certain parts of the legislation that are new in Queensland and that will need some action by business operators in order to comply with them.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland inspectors will be able to provide advice and information or answer questions you may have about the new legislation, during workplace inspections. A range of resources available on the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website will assist you, including video presentations.

Codes of practice

As well as implementing the national model legislation, Queensland has introduced a number of changes to the codes of practice that apply in Queensland:

Under the harmonisation process, 11 new national codes of practice have been adopted in Queensland.
Twenty-four existing Queensland codes of practice have been preserved with amendments to ensure they are consistent with the new legislation.
Four Queensland codes of practice have been repealed and will no longer apply.

Detailed information on the codes of practice, including a list of codes in each category, is available on the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website.

Managing the risk of falls in housing and commercial construction

The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 contains a number of provisions relating to the management of the risk of falls that apply to all industries, including construction work. To assist duty holders to comply, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has released a Legislative guide - working at heights in construction (PDF, 139 kB), which summarises the requirements and provides guidance on how they will be enforced until such time as the national codes of practice have been approved by the Ministerial Council.

Managing the risk of falling objects and excavations

The national codes of practice for Managing risks in construction work, Preventing falls in housing construction and Excavation work are currently in draft form and have not yet taken effect. To ensure the necessary standards and controls for managing these risks remain in place, Queensland has retained a number of provisions from the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 in the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011.

The retained provisions are contained in 'Chapter 6 Construction work' of the new legislation and are identified by a letter after the section number. For example, section 305 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 details the requirements for managing risks associated with excavation work. Section 305A, which has been retained from the previous regulations, provides detailed guidance on the use of barricade and hoarding associated with excavation work.

Once the national codes of practice for Managing risks in construction work, Preventing falls in housing construction and Excavation work are approved and take effect in Queensland, the expectation is that the retained provisions (i.e. those identified with a letter after the section number) will be removed.

Health and safety representatives

Health and safety representatives will be able to exercise all their powers under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, including issuing provisional improvement notices and the power to direct workers to cease work, until 31 December 2012.

After this date, if they have not undertaken the new nationally consistent training they will not be able to continue to issue provisional improvement notices or direct workers to cease work.

Noise

Audiometric testing is now required for workers who are frequently required to use personal audio protective equipment (e.g. ear plugs) to protect them from the risk of hearing loss associated with noise that exceeds the exposure standard for noise.

The requirement stated in the regulations is for the person conducting a business or undertaking that provides the personal protective equipment as a control measure, to provide the audiometric testing within three months of the worker commencing the work and, in any event, at least every two years.

As a transitional arrangement, for workers commencing work in 2012, persons conducting a business or undertaking will have up to 12 months to complete the audiometric testing (Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011,s777).

Further information

Further information about transitional arrangements for high risk work licences, asbestos, plant and other areas is available on www.worksafe.qld.gov.au. Alternatively you can contact the Workplace Health and Safety Infoline on 1300 369 915.

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