The Governor in Council made the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Infringements and Miscellaneous Matters) Regulations 2021 (Infringement Regulations) on July 20, 2021. These new regulations, which will lead to the insertion of Chapter 7B (and a new Schedule 20) into Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, will commence on 31 July 2021. They received Royal Assent, and were inserted into the Regulations on September 1, 2021.
The introduction of Infringement Notices was a 2018 election commitment by the Victorian Labor party.
The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 has been amended to—
(a) prescribe certain offences as offences for which an infringement notice may be issued; and
(b) prescribe infringement penalties in respect of those offences; and
(c) prescribe the class of persons who may issue infringement notices
Part 7B Enforcement will be inserted after Part 7A
553P Infringement offences and infringement penalties
This regulation refers to section 139(1),(2) & (3) of the OHS Act. An offence listed in Column 2 of Schedule 20 is an "infringement offence". The penalties for a natural person are set out in Column 3, and those for a body corporate are set out in Column 4 of Schedule 20.
WorkSafe inspectors can issue infringement notices.
There are 54 offences listed in Schedule 20 - breaches of the OHS Act and of the Regulations. 7 were added in November 2021 relating to new requirements in Chapter 4.5 Crystalline Silica
| Act/Reg provision | Detail | ||||
| 1 | Act s40(2) |
A person must not use plant at a workplace if: (a) the regs require the plant or the design to be licensed or registered; and |
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| 2 | Act s40(3) | A person must not use a substance at a workplace if:
(a) the regs require the substance to be licensed or registered; and |
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| 3 | Act s40(4) | A person must not carry out work, or an activity at a workplace if:
(a) the regs require the work or activity, or class of work or activity, to be carried out by a person who is registered or licensed; and |
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| 4 | Act s41 | Requirements for prescribed qualifications or experience | |||
| 5 | Act s 69(1)(a) | Obligations of employers to provide HSRs access to information on actual or potential hazards and the health and safety of the members of the DWG. | |||
| 6 | Noise | Regulation 33(1) | Noise: Employer to keep a written record of determinations of exposure to noise (which they must undertake under r32) | ||
| 7 | Regulation 39 | Employer must obtain reports of audiological examinations (which they must arrange under r37&38) | |||
| 8 | Regulation 40(1) | Employer must keep the test results of employees' audiological examinations | |||
| 9 | Confined spaces | Regulation 61 | Where work is performed in, or in preparation of, a confined space, the employer must erect signs to identify the space, notify employees not to enter and clearly identify each entry point. | ||
| 10 | Regulation 64 | Employer must keep confined space entry permits until the work is completed, or, if a notifiable incident occurs, for at least 2 years after the incident. | |||
| 11 | Regulation 68 | On completion of work for which a confined space entry permit, the employer must keep written record that all employees have exited it. | |||
| 12 | Plant | Regulation 94(1) | Plant: a supplier of plant who hires or leases plant must make a record detailing any inspection or maintenance carried out (as per r93) | ||
| 13 | Regulation 106 | Duties of the employer with regard to records of inspection and maintenance of certain types of plant that the employer has management or control of, as detailed in this part or in schedules to the regulations. | |||
| 14 | Regulation 110 | Employers must ensure that powered mobile plant that could collide with pedestrians or other mobile plant is fitted with a warning device. | |||
| 15 | High risk work | Regulation 129 | Employers must not allow unlicensed employees to perform high risk work. | ||
| 16 | Hazardous substances | Regulation 162(1) | Employers must prepare and maintain a register of all hazardous substances supplied to the workplace. | ||
| 17 | Regulation 168(1) | Employers must keep a record of the results of atmospheric monitoring (required under r166) for 30 years, unless a different period is determined by the Authority | |||
| 18 | Regulation 171 | Employers must keep records of health monitoring (required under r169 for certain hazardous substances) for 30 years, unless a different period is determined by the Authority | |||
| 19 | Regulation 175(1) | Employers must make a record of each person who works with a scheduled carcinogenic substance at the workplace | |||
| 20 | Regulation 175(3) | These records must be kept for 30 years from the date the person last worked with the substance. | |||
| 21 | Asbestos | Regulation 220(1) | A person must not store asbestos | ||
| 22 | Regulation 246 | Removal of asbestos: asbestos can only be removed by a someone holding an asbestos removal license - unless that person is permitted under r250 to perform limited asbestos removal. (r250 allows for removal of less than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos as long as this can be done in one hour or less in total during a 7-day period. This time limitation also applies to asbestos dust) |
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| 23 | Regulation 252(2) | A person performing limited asbestos removal work must make a record of the mandated training while engaged in the work | |||
| 24 | Regulation 263(1) | Employers must obtain a summary of the results of medical examinations of employees undertaking limited asbestos removal work | |||
| 25 | Regulation 263(2) | Employers must keep a copy of the summary of results for 30 years, unless a different period is determined by the Authority | |||
| 26 | Regulation 266(2) | An asbestos removal license holder must not appoint a person as an asbestos removal supervisor if the Authority as not accepted the nomination of that supervisor | |||
| 27 | Regulation 278(2) | An asbestos removal license holder must ensure that a person does not remove PPE or equipment that is likely to be contaminated from the area where asbestos removal is being performed unless these have been decontaminated or contained before removal | |||
| 28 | Regulation 278(3) | also relating to decontamination of PPE and equipment | |||
| 29 | Regulation 283(1) | The asbestos removal license holder must obtain a summary of the results of medical examinations of employees undertaking asbestos removal work (as required under r282) | |||
| 30 | Regulation 283(2) | The asbestos removal license holder must keep a copy of the summary of results for 30 years, unless a different period is determined by the Authority | |||
| 31 | Regulation 297(1) | A person who commissions any Class A or Class B asbestos removal work must obtain a clearance certificate from an independent person on completion of the asbestos removal work and before the area where the work was performed is re-occupied | |||
| 32 | Regulation 298(1) | An asbestos removal licence holder must notify the Authority of asbestos removal work 24 hours before limited removal work, or 5 days before other work | |||
| 33 | Regulation 298(3) | A copy of this notice must be given to the person who commissioned the removal work | |||
| 34 | Regulation 313(1) | An employer must obtain a summary of the results of medical examinations of employees undertaking ongoing asbestos-related activities as detailed in r302 (as required under r311) | |||
| 35 | Regulation 313(2) | Employers must keep a copy of the summary of results for 30 years, unless a different period is determined by the Authority | |||
| 36 | Regulation 314(1) | Employers carrying out asbestos-related activities must ensure that a person does not remove PPE or equipment that is likely to be contaminated from the area where asbestos removal is being performed unless these have been decontaminated or contained before removal | |||
| 37 | Regulation 314(2) | also relating to decontamination of PPE and equipment | |||
| 37A | Crystalline Silica |
Regulation 319K(1) |
An employer/SEP who conducts a risk assessment under regulation 319J(1)(a) must make a written record of how the factors have been taken into account, and identifies whether it is high risk silica work |
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| 37B | Regulation 319K(2) |
Record must be kept while crystalline silica processes are undertaken at the workplace. |
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| 37C | Regulation 319N |
A copy of a crystalline silica hazard control statement must be kept for the duration of the high risk crystalline silica work for which the statement was prepared. |
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| 37D | Regulation 319ZA(1) |
A supplier of engineered stone can only supply engineered stone to a person who requires and holds an engineered stone licence. |
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| 37E | Regulation 319ZA(2) |
The supplier must record the name and address of the person the engineered stone was supplied to; the name and quantity supplied; and the licence number of the licence holder it was supplied to. |
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| 37F | Regulation 319ZA(3) |
The record must be kept for 5 years |
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| 37G | Regulation 319ZE(1) |
An engineered stone licence holder must must provide to the Authority a copy of any health monitoring reports and and atmospheric monitoring results within 30 days of these being received. |
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| 38 | High risk construction | Regulation 329 | Construction: An employer or self-employed person must keep a copy of the safe work method statement (required under r327) for the duration of the high risk construction work | ||
| 39 | Regulation 334(1) | A principal contractor on a construction site must put up signs visible from the outside with their name and contact phone numbers | |||
| 40 | Regulation 337(1) | A principal contractor on a construction site must keep a copy of the health and safety co-ordination plan (as per r336) and any revisions of the plan for the duration of the project and make them available to anyone engaged to perform work, about to commence work, and an HSR or OHS Committee member | |||
| 41 | Regulation 352 | A person holding a construction induction card ('red' or 'white' card) must keep that card available for immediate inspection. | |||
| 42 | Regulation 355(1) | An employer or self-employed person must notify the Authority it intends to perform excavation work on a shaft, trench or tunnel at least 3 days before commencing that work. | |||
| 43 | Major Hazard facilities | Regulation 370 | The operator of a major hazard facility must keep the safety assessment documentation (r369) available for inspection on request under the Act. | ||
| 44 | Regulation 373 |
The operator of a major hazard facility must keep the documented safety management system (r372) available for inspection on request under the Act. |
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| 45 | Mines | Regulation 412(2) | The operator of a mine must ensure that the person conducting health monitoring (r411) prepares the report of the results with specified requirements. | ||
| 46 | Regulation 412(3) | The operator of a mine must obtain a copy of the monitoring report. | |||
| 47 | Regulation 419 | The operator of a prescribed mine must keep the safety management system (r418) available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 48 | Regulation 422 | The operator of a prescribed mine must keep the safety assessment documentation (r 421) available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 49 | Regulation 433(4) | The operator of a prescribed mine must ensure that the emergency plan (r433[1].[2], & [3]) available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 50 | Regulation 438 | The operator of a prescribed mine must keep the plan of the mine, (r437) available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 51 | Licences | Regulation 474 | A licence holder must comply with the terms and conditions of the licence as per Divisions 6 and 3. | ||
| 52 | Regulation 476(1) | A high risk licence holder must keep evidence of licence document available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 53 | Regulation 476(2) | A person who hold any other class of licence must keep the evidence of licence document available for inspection on request under the Act. | |||
| 54 | Exemptions | Regulation 544(3) | Under the regulations, the Authority has the power to impose an exemption on an conditions it considers to be appropriate - under r544(3), a person to whom an exemption is granted must comply with the terms and conditions to which the exemption in subject. |
Last amended November 2021