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Queensland Workplace Health and Safety

Queensland vision

The long-term vision for Queensland is workplaces free from death, injury and disease.

Queensland targets

The Queensland strategy has set targets as a step towards achieving its vision of Queensland workplaces free from death, injury and disease. These targets are also reflected in the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002¿12.

The initial targets are to:

Individual industries are encouraged to set or refine their own targets to complement the Queensland targets.

The targets are set to be challenging but achievable. The early stages of implementing the strategy will be used to refine the targets to reflect those set by individual industries and to refine the methodology and benchmarks for measuring and reporting progress against them. Current data limits the measurements of achievement largely to compensated work-related injury and disease.

Other targets and the data sources to support them will be identified over time.

Queensland priorities

Queensland priorities have been identified to guide the activities of the Workplace Health and Safety Board and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland in order to achieve a sustained and substantial improvement in Queensland ¿s workplace health and safety performance over the next decade.

The Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Strategy 2004¿12 will be supported by five industry and three mechanisms of injury strategies that will provide a specific focus to the prevention effort. To guide and target prevention efforts, priority hazards, injuries and industries will be periodically reviewed to achieve continued improvements in health and safety.

Priorities:

  1. reduce high incidence/severity risks
  2. develop the capacity of business operators and workers to manage workplace health and safety effectively
  3. prevent occupational disease more effectively
  4. eliminate hazards at the design stage
  5. strengthen the capacity of Government to influence workplace health and safety outcomes
  6. Other indicators of success.

1. Reduce high incidence/severity risks

Although workplace health and safety problems can affect workers in any work situation, not all workers face the same degree or type of risk of injury as others. Risks may vary by, for example, the type of industry, occupation or work. By targeting hazards, injuries, industries or occupations where the incidence of injury and/or numbers of deaths is particularly high, significant improvements may be made to Queensland workplace health and safety performance.

Queensland priority hazards, injuries, industries or occupations will be periodically identified for prevention efforts in accordance with implementation of the national strategy.

Four industry groups have been nominated as initial national priorities for intervention commencing in 2004. Other priority industries will be identified in future years. The four industry groups are:

Queensland has also identified the rural industry as a specific Queensland priority to commence in 2004.

The following mechanisms of injury have also been highlighted as national priorities for 2004:

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is currently working with the Industry Sector Standing Committees to develop strategic plans for each of the priority injuries and priority mechanisms of injury.

2. Develop the capacity of business operators and workers to manage workplace health and safety effectively

Capacities to control workplace health and safety risks and manage workplace health and safety effectively in workplaces range from the ability to identify, choose, implement, evaluate and adapt systematic approaches to workplace health and safety management, through to being able to participate in consultation on workplace health and safety matters, and carry out good workplace health and safety risk management practices. Such management practices should be integrated into day-to-day business operations.

This priority recognises that before employers and others take action to manage workplace health and safety, they must be motivated to do so. An aim of this priority is for obligation holders to understand the case for better systematic workplace health and safety management, including greater worker participation. A specific focus of this priority will be small to medium size workplaces.

3. Prevent occupational disease more effectively

Unlike traumatic injuries and fatalities, it may not always be possible to clearly identify the cause and effect relationship in the case of occupational disease and associated deaths. The effects may not show up for a considerable time after initial exposure to a particular hazard. Sometimes a particular disease may be caused by work and non-work exposures. The result of these factors is that opportunities to protect the health of workers may not always be immediately recognised.

This priority aims to develop the capacity of authorities, employers, workers and other interested parties to identify risks to occupational health and to take practical action to eliminate or otherwise control them.

4. Eliminate hazards at the design stage

Responsibility to eliminate hazards or control risk rests at its source. This principle applies to all sources of hazards. Responsibility falls on a wide range of parties, including those outside of the workplace such as designers, manufacturers or suppliers. This priority aims to build awareness and observance of this approach and to give people the practical skills to recognise design issues to ensure safe outcomes.

5. Strengthen the capacity of Government to influence workplace health and safety

The Queensland Government is a major employer, policy maker, regulator and purchaser of equipment and services. It has a leadership role in preventing work-related death, injury and disease in Queensland. This priority aims to sharpen the effectiveness of government departments and agencies in securing better workplace health and safety outcomes and providing examples of good practice.

6. Other indicators of success

In addition to reducing work-related deaths, injuries and diseases, the strategy should improve the overall workplace health and safety environment. Some indicators of success will be:


Workplace health and safety in Queensland

Under the Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 kB) and the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008 anyone whose actions could affect the health and safety of others has an obligation.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is responsible for regulating and enforcing workplace health and safety in Queensland. Together with the Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Board they provide strategic leadership across Queensland and coordinate efforts to improve workplace health and safety performance.

Workplace health and safety improvement ultimately depends on the actions of all those with the capacity to affect workplace health and safety in Queensland. This includes, but is not limited to: