If you work across Australian state and territory borders harmonisation of Australian OHS laws has been a long time coming. The intent of OHS harmonisation was to remove inconsistencies from state to state, enabling business across borders to be consistent with regard to OHS compliance. If you do not comply with the existing Queensland OHS laws then the consequences of these new laws will be onerous and will potentially result in increased fines and jail sentences of key people within your organisation if you are deemed to have been reckless to the risk of death or serious injury. So compliance is essential, no matter what laws are enacted.
Harmonisation of Australian OHS law has been the subject of discussion for 30 years and there have been many attempts by various Governments to resolve this problem. There are many reasons for harmonisation, most importantly, reducing the cost to business of compliance across borders and agreeing on requirements and terminology within the health and safety field. It is an opportunity to clarify expectations for employers that have the obligation to keep their workers and others safe.
It seems, however, that Queensland may remain out on a limb when it comes to harmonisation of OHS laws in Australia. The Queensland Bligh Government has stuck by a start date of 1st January 2012 however finer details of the Regulations and Codes of Practice are still forthcoming. This makes preparing for the changes difficult as proactive organisations may be forced to update and implement their documentation more than once as the finer details are confirmed in the coming period.
It is likely, however that this process of harmonisation will take longer than expected, with a number of States and Territories looking to delay implementation of model Work Health Safety laws. Victoria (Government notification) indicates that implementation of the national OHS laws would most likely come into effect on 1 January 2013. Western Australia appears to have delayed changes, whilst there has been no legislative action in Tasmania. The Northern Territory has plans to introduce a harmonised OHS Bill and there is a Bill before parliament in South Australia with and unclear commencement date.
So, whilst Queensland has fully committed to the principles of harmonisation of OHS laws in Australia it is evident that Queensland will be rewarded on 1st January 2012 with increases in penalties for "Persons Conducting the Business or Undertaking" (PCBU) effectively the employer or his designate, with questions still lingering as to whether the aim of consistent laws across borders will be achieved.
If you are a client of Stack Masula, you can be assured that Stack Masula has been gradually modifying our documentation over the past 8 months to meet the requirements of the new OHS laws that will become effective in Queensland on January 1st, 2012. As our support to our clients is to keep documentation current with annual review, we do not anticipate that all our clients will require an immediate update to their OHS documentation on January 1st 2012. Please contact Susie Stack if you would like to discuss further susie@stackmasula.com.au. Otherwise transition towards these new laws will be entrusted to Stack Masula.
