Harmonisation of Work Health and Safety Laws updates

Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act 2011 effective now

Today, 1 January 2012 marks an historic event for our jurisdiction with the commencement of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) (WHS Act) for the Commonwealth jurisdiction.

Work Health and Safety Bill - passed

Thursday, 24 November marked a historic moment for Comcare and for the safety of Australian workers. The Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 and the Work Health and Safety (Transitional and Consequential) Bill 2011 were passed in the senate without amendment and received Royal Assent on 29 November 2011.

Harmonised Work Health and Safety Laws

On 20 October 2011, Comcare CEO Paul O’Connor and Comcare’s General Manager of Project Harmony, Melissa Ryan, presented an SES update on the new Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act 2011).

Further WHS resources released

Comcare has now released a resource to assist officer�s exercise their positive duty due diligence. Additional to this resource we also have an exciting e-learning module that aims to build workers' knowledge of the new Work Health and Safety legislation express your interest to do so fill out the form today. See:

Codes of practice out for comment

Safe Work Australia has announced the start of the public comment period for 15 draft model Codes of Practice that will accompany the new Work Health and Safety Act due to come into operation at the start of next year.

New material available

Manager Team talks [PDF, 1.2MB] with Speaker notes [PDF, 1MB] available to assist you in getting the new Work Health and Safety message to your workers.
Summary of Roles and Responsibilities Toolkits [PDF, 125KB] to give you an overview of each worker's role under the new WHS laws.

Comparison table updated

We have now updated the comparison table that looks at the key differences between the current Commonwealth Occupational Health and Safety Legislation and the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Bill (Cth WHS Act). You can view this table and many more on the Comparison tables page under Guidance.

Harmonisation 2 of Work health and Safety Laws updates RSS added

Here is the first rss item

Harmonisation of Work health and Safety Laws updates RSS added

Here is the first rss item

Transitional Principles for Implementing the Model WHS Act

Safe Work Australia has developed transitional principles that set out how arrangements under existing work health and safety (WHS) legislation will transition to the new system. This will ensure a co-ordinated approach is taken to implementation following commencement of the model WHS Act, and that so far as possible all jurisdictions adopt harmonised transitional arrangements.