The Victorian
Occupational Health and Safety Act (2004) ('the Act') applies to all Victorian manufacturing and most Victorian workplaces. The exception is that the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (more information on the Commonwealth Act) applies to workers in Federal government departments, agencies and business enterprises (eg Telstra, Australia Post).
Read more about OHS in Victoria: Overview of OHS Legislation.
Under the Act, the minister can declare regulations and codes of practice, and WorkSafe Victoria can also release guidance notes, guidelines, alerts and so on. In 2007, the separate regulations were consolidated - below is a list of chapters which are of particular importance to workers in construction and utilities.
Regulations:
- Asbestos
- Certification of Plant Users and Operators
- Confined Spaces
- Hazardous substances
- Incident Notification
- Manual Handling
- Noise
- Plant
- Prevention of Falls
You can access a summary of the Act and of each chapter of the regulations in the Law section of the website.
Compliance codes and Codes of Practice
Codes are advisory documents. The Compliance Codes have been made under the 2004 Act; but there are still some old Codes of Practice which are useful (until such time as Compliance Codes are made). These are available free from WorkSafe (phone 1800 136 089) or you can access them from this site. They cover:
- First Aid in the Workplace
- Prevention of Falls
- Workplace amenities and work environment
- Asbestos
- Falls
- Hazardous substances
- Manual Handling
- Noise
- Plant
The Dangerous Goods Act (1985) and Regulations may also be relevant in many construction workplaces. This Act and other Victorian legislation can be accessed on Victorian government legislation repository website.
Regulation of all matters electrical and gas
The Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector (OCEI) was the technical regulator and is responsible for electrical safety and equipment efficiency in Victoria, Australia. The OCEI has now been combined with the Gas authority into a new organisation called EnergySafe Victoria. It licenses and registers electrical workers and produces codes, guidelines and alerts. Visit the EnergySafe Victoria website for more information.
Last amended September 2014