1a. Legislation and regulation

1. Keeping yourself, your colleagues and students safe is one of the most important aspects of your role.

Workplace health and safety is about preventing injury, illness and disease in the workplace.

Safe Work Australia leads the development of the model WHS laws, comprised of the model WHS Act the model WHS Regulations and the model Codes of practice. Safe Work Australia's main roles are;

• develop and evaluate national WHS and workers’ compensation policy and strategies 

• develop and evaluate the model WHS legislative framework 

• undertake research 

• collect, analyse and report data 

What's the difference between an Act, Regulation and Code of Practice in Workplace Health and Safety?

New 'model' WHS legislation was introduced in most Australian jurisdictions in 2012. 

These standardised and “harmonised” safety laws apply across most of Australia, making it easier for organisations operating in multiple states to conduct business. The model WHS legislation introduced a range of new Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice that govern workplace health and safety and welfare in each state and territory. 

It is essential for workplace health and safety practitioners, as well as many business owners, managers, tradesmen and employees working in hazardous roles, to know and comply with these legal requirements. The WHS laws have been written so that they can be used in all states and territories, however they only apply if the state or territory takes action to adopt and implement these laws in their jurisdiction.

Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2011

A Workplace  Health and Safety Act is a formal description of health and safety law passed in a state or territory. It is intended to spell out the duties for each group that has a role in health and safety in the workplace. When an Act is passed by Parliament in a jurisdiction, it becomes legally binding. The Australian Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2011 is what the new model legislation is based on. You can access the Act here - https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00293 

Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations

WHS regulations are a more detailed set of requirements created to support the duties established in the WHS Act. Regulations also need to be enacted or passed by Parliament in each jurisdiction to be legally binding. 

You can access the NSW WHS Regulations here - https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2017-0404 

You can access the QLD WHS Regulations here - https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/sl-2011-0240 

Work Health and Safety (WHS) Codes of Practice

WHS Codes of practice are a practical guide on how to achieve the accepted standards of workplace health, safety and welfare required in the WHS Act and Regulations. To be legally binding, a code of practice has to be approved for that jurisdiction. You can contact a work health and safety regulator in your jurisdiction to find out which codes of practice have been approved. 

Examples of  NSW Codes of Practice can be found here - https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/resource-library/list-of-all-codes-of-practice 

Examples of QLD Codes of Practice can be found here - https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-compliance/codes-of-practice 

3. In New South Wales, SafeWork NSW is the workplace health and safety regulator

SafeWork NSW, iCare and SIRA are the organisations responsible for all aspects of safety in the workplace. They take the place of WorkCover NSW.

SafeWork NSW - http://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/ 

Are responsible for:

• • • Providing WHS information and advice

    • Providing licences and registrations for potentially dangerous work

    • Investigating workplace incidents 

    • Enforcing work health and safety laws in NSW.

icare is short for Insurance and Care NSW. icare:

• provides workers compensation insurance

• insures builders and homeowners in the event the property cannot be completed due to reasons including builder/contractor insolvency, death or licence suspension

• provides treatment and care to people severely injured in a workplace or on our roads.

SIRA is short for State Insurance Regulatory Authority. SIRA:

• regulates motor accidents and compulsory third party (CTP) insurance

• regulates workers compensation insurance and the home building compensation scheme.

7. Legislation and you

Legislation is passed in Parliament. It often has complex language, is lengthy and is difficult for the everyday person to access and understand. So how do you know what to do?

Legislation is translated into Regulations and Policies by your employer or by government agencies such as the NSW or Qld Departments of Education.

Regulations are rules that tell you how the law will be applied.

Policies are documents that tell you broadly how the law will be interpreted or applied but allow you to work out how the law might be applied.

Regulations and Policies are then made available to schools and other groups. Schools might choose to use the policies as they are or write their own versions. Policies are great but they are still not very practical.

In relation to WHS underlying principles and information, the state (Safework NSW) and Federal Government sites (Safe Work Australia) will be those that we use BUT, in public education all the policies we access will be available from these pages, including policies in relation to WHS:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library 

https://education.qld.gov.au/initiatives-and-strategies/health-and-wellbeing/workplaces 

https://education.qld.gov.au/parents-and-carers/parent-participation/p-and-c/policies 

Procedures and guidelines are then written based on policies. The policy will tell you what must be done but the procedure or guidelines will tell you how to do it or what you might do.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policy-listing/health--safety-and-wellbeing 

Other Policies the school may have include;

• Emergency Management Plan - that highlights emergency evacuation procedures

• Incident, Injury and Reporting policy

• Injury Management Policy

• WHS Policy - Hazard identification and Risk Assessment Policy and Procedure