UPDATED COMPLIANCE CODE APPROVED
Minister for Workplace Safety, Ingrid Stitt, has approved the new Communicating Occupational Health and Safety Across Languages compliance code, which came into effect on 28 July 2022.
The code provides practical guidance for those who have duties under the Act or Regulations to communicate OHS information across languages to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) employees.
The code content is closely aligned with the previous 2008 code, but has been updated to:
- more clearly describe employer duties in relation to communicating on OHS matters across languages under the OHS Act and OHS Regulations
- revise definitions and terminology in line with current approaches, such as making reference to culturally and linguistically diverse workplaces, rather than multilingual workplaces
- include some examples of cultural barriers that may impact communication
- clarify the role and the limitations of employees as multilingual facilitators in assisting with communication
- renew information about best practices in translation and interpreting service
A copy of the new code can be found on the WorkSafe website
SOME HSR TRAINING ORGANISATIONS ARE SKIMPING
In an alert resulting from recent audits of HSR training providers, WorkSafe have identified that some newly elected HSRs are not receiving a hard copy of the OHS Act, as required, and are receiving photocopies instead.
WorkSafe have reminded training organisations that all participants in the initial 5 day course must receive an official hard copy of the Act.
Other non-conformances include participants failing to receive a summary of recent amendments to the Act, which include:
- Changes to incident notification requirements
- Changes to prohibition notices
- Changes to labour hire arrangements
Click the links below for a summary of recent amendments:
- Workplace Safety Legislation and Other Matters Amendment Act 2022
- Duties to labour hire workers under the OHS Act
- Duty on labour hire providers and host employers to consult, cooperate and coordinate
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