In February 2006 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a new
National Reform Agenda. Six
priority cross-jurisdictional ‘hot spot’ areas were identified, where
“overlapping and inconsistent regulatory regimes are impeding economic
activity” (COAG Communiqué). Occupational Health and Safety was one of
these areas.
On 4 April 2008, the then Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, announced a national review into model Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Laws. A Panel was appointed to undertake this review and delivered its final Report and Recommendations in February 2009. More information: National Review into Model OHS Laws website.
Since then, the work of developing the model OHS legislative package
has been undertaken by SafeWork Australia (SWA). This involved the
development of the principal act, model regulations and codes of
practice.
The first step was the development of a draft model OHS Act, which was released for public comment. The Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2009 was endorsed by the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC) on 11 December 2009. The latest version model WHS Act is now available to download from the SWA website.
Much of the work this year has been the development of the model regulations, together with the first priority codes of practice. It is expected that the package, which will include the regulatory impact statement, will be released before the end of 2010 for public comment.
(for details on the various milestones to this point, check the 'Updates' in the It's Time to Deliver section of the website).
More information
Almost all of the jurisdictions have information on their websites on the Model laws and/or the process. Some sites are more frequently updated than others, so checking around will provide the most up to date information.- SafeWork Australia:
- WorkSafe Victoria
- Information on
National OHS Law Reform including
Frequently Asked Questions
and a
Comparison document on the Model regs and the Victorian 2007 OHS Regs
- WorkCover NSW -
New Legislation 2012
- Workplace Health and Safety Queensland
- Harmonisation of WHS Laws and
Frequently Asked Questions
on the model WHS Bill.
- WorkSafe WA:
Frequently Asked Questions
- SafeWork SA: A presentation on the model legislation
National OHS Harmonisation –What It Means For SA Workplaces [pdf]
- NTWorkSafe:
Model OHS Laws including a presentation
- Comcare:
Harmonisation of Work Health and Safety Laws