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Welcome to your quarterly regulatory update.
As an officer in your business, you have a personal responsibility under WHS law to take reasonable steps to ensure your business is a safe place to work. To help you meet this obligation, it is important to maintain current knowledge of WHS matters as they apply to your business.
This bulletin provides you with an overview of key amendments to Australian WHS and OHS legislation in the last 12 months, as well as any relevant material prepared by the safety regulators at that time. The laws are not always amended frequently, so we will let you know when they change.
Amendments to Legislation
Around October 2022, WHS and OHS regulations were amended to include new provisions for managing psychosocial risks in the workplace. These amendments included defining the terms ‘psychosocial hazard’ and ‘psychosocial risk’ and setting out the appropriate control measures that a business is required to implement to manage those risks.
Together with this update, you should have received a link to a LegalVision webinar on general psychosocial hazards which was made with these amendments in mind. Please carefully consider the matters raised in the webinar and ensure that your business has processes and procedures in place to handle psychosocial risks.
Beyond that, there have been no material amendments to the WHS or Victorian OHS legislation in the last 12 months other than in relation to businesses working with the manufacturing or installation of Engineered Stone. Please contact us if this is relevant to your business.
Recent SafeWork Australia Materials
Beyond the legislation, SafeWork releases various materials which set out best practices in relation to health and safety as well as information on particular hazards.
We have identified the following recently released or updated Safe Work Australia materials that are relevant to your role as an officer of your business.
| SafeWork Australia Materials | Summary |
| Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work | This Model Code of Practice provides information on what constitutes a psychosocial hazard in the workplace and provides guidance for businesses on implementing controls to eliminate or minimise those risks. |
| Model Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination | A business has an express obligation to consult with its workers in relation to health and safety matters. This Model Code of Practice describes how to, why and when to consult with your workers. |
| Factsheet: Duty to consult, cooperate and coordinate with other duty holders | This fact sheet summarises the obligations set out in the Code of Practice above. |
| Information Sheet: COVID-19: How to minimise the risks at work | Covid-19 still presents a risk to health and safety in all businesses. Even though this risk is not as critical as it has been in recent years, your business should still consider how it can minimise this risk to health and safety. This information sheet sets out some steps you may choose to implement. |
Questions?
Your business is a client of LegalVision. If you have any questions in relation to work health safety matters including officers’ obligations, or the business’ obligations, your business can book in and speak to us.
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