QLD - Work Health and Safety Act 2011 Review

Original article published by Queensland Government

The Honourable Grace Grace MP, Minister for Industrial Relations, announced an independent review of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).

The review is led by Mr Craig Allen, former Deputy Director General of the Office of Industrial Relations; Mr Charles Massy, a barrister specialising in Industrial Relations and Employment; and Ms Deirdre Swan, former Deputy President of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

The review is considering the overall effectiveness of the key components of the WHS Act in achieving its objectives, including:

• Considering and reporting on any need for amendments to ensure:
• provisions relating to health and safety representatives are effective and operating as intended
• workers are appropriately represented and assisted in the workplace for the purpose of health and safety matters
• the effectiveness of the legislative framework for review and stay provisions with enforcement notices under the WHS Act
• provisions relating to the issue and dispute resolution are effective and operating as intended.
• Any other matters relating to the WHS Act’s overall effectiveness and performance in ensuring a balanced framework to secure health and safety of workers and workplaces and consider whether any legislative or administrative amendments are required.

View the review Terms of reference Have your say

Written submissions are invited seeking feedback on:

• whether the provisions relating to health and safety representatives are effective and operating as intended (see Part 5 of the WHS Act, sections 50–74, 85, and 90–102)
• whether workers are appropriately represented and assisted in workplace for the purposes of health and safety matters (including representation and assistance by WHS entry permit holders (see Part 7 of the WHS Act, sections 116–151)
• the effectiveness of the legislative framework for review and stay provisions with enforcement notices under the WHS Act (see Part 12 of the WHS Act, sections 223–229F)
• whether the provisions relating to issue and dispute resolution are effective and operating as intended (see sections 80–82 and 102A–102G of the WHS Act).

Input is also sought on any other matters relating to the WHS Act’s overall effectiveness and performance in ensuring a balanced framework to secure health and safety of workers and workplaces and whether any legislative or administrative amendments are required.

It is requested that submissions include a detailed explanation of any issues raised relevant to the Terms of reference. This includes providing supporting evidence and information to demonstrate the scale of the issue and/or the impact the issue may be having on the effective performance of the WHS Act. Evidence may include case studies, supporting data, relevant research and information, or any other material relevant to informing the reviewers of the matter.

In providing a submission to the review, please indicate if the submission, or parts of the submission, are confidential, as submissions may be referred to in the final report for the review.

Consultation closes Friday 23 September 2022.

The findings and recommendations from the review are expected to be presented to the Queensland Government in late 2022 or shortly thereafter.

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