Work Health and Safety Act 2011

258 Pages·2017·1.8 MB·English

Queensland
Work Health and Safety Act
2011
Current as at 18 March 2019
© State of Queensland 2020
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Queensland
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
Division 1 Introduction
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Division 2 Object
3 Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Division 3 Interpretation
Subdivision 1 Definitions
4 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Subdivision 2 Other important terms
5 Meaning of person conducting a business or undertaking . . . . . 21
6 Meaning of supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7 Meaning of worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
8 Meaning of workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
9 Section number not used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Division 4 Application of Act
10 Act binds all persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
11 Section number not used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
12 Scope: application of Act to particular matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Part 2 Health and safety duties
Division 1 Introductory
Subdivision 1 Principles that apply to duties
13 Principles that apply to duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
14 Duties not transferable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
15 Person may have more than 1 duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
16 More than 1 person can have a duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
17 Management of risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
Subdivision 2 What is reasonably practicable
18 What is reasonably practicable in ensuring health and safety . . 26
Division 2 Primary duty of care
19 Primary duty of care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Division 3 Further duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings
20 Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving
management or control of workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
21 Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving
management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at workplaces 29
22 Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that design
plant, substances or structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
23 Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that
manufacture plant, substances or structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
24 Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that import
plant, substances or structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
25 Duties of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that supply
plant, substances or structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
26 Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings that install,
construct or commission plant or structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
26A Duty of persons conducting business or undertaking—codes of practice
38
Division 4 Duty of officers, workers and other persons
27 Duty of officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
28 Duties of workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
29 Duties of other persons at the workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Division 5 Offences and penalties
30 Health and safety duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
31 Reckless conduct—category 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
32 Failure to comply with health and safety duty—category 2 . . . . . 42
33 Failure to comply with health and safety duty—category 3 . . . . . 43
33A Duty prevails over particular excuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
34 Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Part 2A Industrial manslaughter
34A Definitions for part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
34B Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
34C Industrial manslaughter—person conducting business or undertaking
45
34D Industrial manslaughter—senior officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Part 3 Incident notification
Page 2
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
35 What is a notifiable incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
36 What is a serious injury or illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
37 What is a dangerous incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
38 Duty to notify of notifiable incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
39 Duty to preserve incident sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Part 4 Authorisations
40 Meaning of authorised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
41 Requirements for authorisation of workplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
42 Requirements for authorisation of plant or substance . . . . . . . . . 50
43 Requirements for authorisation of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
44 Requirements for prescribed qualifications or experience . . . . . 51
45 Requirement to comply with conditions of authorisation . . . . . . . 52
Part 5 Consultation, representation and participation
Division 1 Consultation, cooperation and coordination between duty holders
46 Duty to consult with other duty holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Division 2 Consultation with workers
47 Duty to consult workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
48 Nature of consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
49 When consultation is required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Division 3 Health and safety representatives
Subdivision 1 Request for election of health and safety representatives
50 Request for election of health and safety representative . . . . . . 55
Subdivision 2 Determination of work groups
51 Determination of work groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
52 Negotiations for agreement for work group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
53 Notice to workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
54 Failure of negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Subdivision 3 Multiple-business work groups
55 Determination of work groups of multiple businesses . . . . . . . . . 58
56 Negotiation of agreement for work groups of multiple businesses 58
57 Notice to workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
58 Withdrawal from negotiations or agreement involving multiple
businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
59 Effect of subdivision on other arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Subdivision 4 Election of health and safety representatives
60 Eligibility to be elected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Page 3
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
61 Procedure for election of health and safety representatives . . . . 61
62 Eligibility to vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
63 When election not required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
64 Term of office of health and safety representative . . . . . . . . . . . 62
65 Disqualification of health and safety representatives . . . . . . . . . 62
66 Immunity of health and safety representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
67 Deputy health and safety representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Subdivision 4A Disqualification process
67A Definition for subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
67B Application of subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
67C Decision on application may be given on the papers or at a hearing 64
67D Applications decided on the papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
67E Applications decided at a hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
67F Notice of decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Subdivision 5 Powers and functions of health and safety representatives
68 Powers and functions of health and safety representatives . . . . 67
69 Powers and functions generally limited to the particular work group 69
Subdivision 6 Obligations of person conducting business or undertaking to
health and safety representatives
70 General obligations of person conducting business or undertaking 69
71 Exceptions from obligations under s 70(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
72 Obligation to train health and safety representatives . . . . . . . . . 73
73 Obligation to share costs if multiple businesses or undertakings 74
74 List of health and safety representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Division 4 Health and safety committees
75 Health and safety committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
76 Constitution of committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
77 Functions of committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
78 Meetings of committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
79 Duties of person conducting business or undertaking . . . . . . . . . 77
Division 5 Issue resolution
80 Parties to an issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
81 Resolution of health and safety issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
82 Referral of issue to regulator for resolution by inspector . . . . . . . 79
Division 6 Right to cease or direct cessation of unsafe work
83 Definition of cease work under this division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Page 4
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
84 Right of worker to cease unsafe work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
85 Health and safety representative may direct that unsafe work cease 80
86 Worker to notify if ceases work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
87 Alternative work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
88 Continuity of engagement of worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
89 Request to regulator to appoint inspector to assist . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Division 7 Provisional improvement notices
90 Provisional improvement notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
91 Provisional improvement notice to be in writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
92 Contents of provisional improvement notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
93 Provisional improvement notice may give directions to remedy
contravention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
94 Minor changes to provisional improvement notice . . . . . . . . . . . 84
95 Issue of provisional improvement notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
96 Health and safety representative may cancel notice . . . . . . . . . . 84
97 Display of provisional improvement notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
97A Person conducting business or undertaking to give copy of provisional
improvement notice to regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
98 Formal irregularities or defects in notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
99 Offence to contravene a provisional improvement notice . . . . . . 85
100 Request for review of provisional improvement notice . . . . . . . . 86
101 Regulator to appoint inspector to review notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
102 Decision of inspector on review of provisional improvement notice 86
Division 7A Work health and safety disputes
102A Definitions for division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
102B Notice of dispute may be given to commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
102C Action for settling dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
102D Review of particular decisions made by inspector . . . . . . . . . . . 89
102E Decision not to deal with dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
102F Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
102G Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Division 8 Part not to apply to prisoners and detainees
103 Part does not apply to prisoners and detainees . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Part 5A Work health and safety officers
103A Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
103B General functions of work health and safety officer who is not the person
conducting the business or undertaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Page 5
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
103C General functions of work health and safety officer who is the person
conducting the business or undertaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
103D Assessment functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
103E Assessment reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
103F General obligations of person conducting business or undertaking to
work health and safety officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
103G Immunity for work health and safety officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
103H Appointment of work health and safety officers does not affect duties and
obligations under this Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
103I Displaying identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Part 6 Discriminatory, coercive and misleading conduct
Division 1 Prohibition of discriminatory, coercive or misleading conduct
104 Prohibition of discriminatory conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
105 What is discriminatory conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
106 What is a prohibited reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
107 Prohibition of requesting, instructing, inducing, encouraging, authorising
or assisting discriminatory conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
108 Prohibition of coercion or inducement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
109 Misrepresentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Division 2 Criminal proceedings in relation to discriminatory conduct
110 Proof of discriminatory conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
111 Order for compensation or reinstatement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Division 3 Civil proceedings in relation to discriminatory or coercive conduct
112 Civil proceedings in relation to engaging in or inducing discriminatory or
coercive conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
113 Procedure for civil actions for discriminatory conduct . . . . . . . . . 104
Division 4 General
114 General provisions relating to orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
115 Prohibition of multiple actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Part 7 Workplace entry by WHS entry permit holders
Division 1 Introductory
116 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Division 2 Entry to inquire into suspected contraventions
117 Entry to inquire into suspected contraventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
118 Rights that may be exercised while at workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
119 Notice of entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
120 Entry to inspect employee records or information held by another person
109
Page 6
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
Division 3 Entry to consult and advise workers
121 Entry to consult and advise workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
122 Notice of entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Division 4 Requirements for WHS entry permit holders
123 Contravening WHS entry permit conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
124 WHS entry permit holder must also hold permit under other law 111
125 WHS entry permit to be available for inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
126 When right may be exercised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
127 Where the right may be exercised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
128 Work health and safety requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
129 Residential premises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
130 WHS entry permit holder not required to disclose names of workers 112
Division 5 WHS entry permits
131 Application for WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
132 Consideration of application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
133 Eligibility criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
134 Issue of WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
135 Conditions on WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
136 Term of WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
137 Expiry of WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
138 Application to revoke WHS entry permit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
139 Commission must permit WHS entry permit holder to show cause 116
140 Determination of application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Division 6 Dealing with disputes
Subdivision 1 Role of inspectors
141 Application for assistance of inspector to resolve dispute . . . . . . 118
141A Powers of inspector asked to assist in resolving dispute . . . . . . 118
Subdivision 2 Role of commission
142 Commission may deal with a dispute about a right of entry under this Act
119
142A Review by commission of decision made by inspector under s 141A
121
143 Contravening order made to deal with dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Division 7 Prohibitions
144 Person must not refuse or delay entry of WHS entry permit holder 122
145 Person must not hinder or obstruct WHS entry permit holder . . . 122
Page 7
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Contents
146 WHS entry permit holder must not delay, hinder or obstruct any person
or disrupt work at workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
147 Misrepresentations about things authorised by this part . . . . . . . 122
148 Unauthorised use or disclosure of information or documents . . . 123
Division 8 General
149 Return of WHS entry permits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
150 Union to provide information to industrial registrar . . . . . . . . . . . 125
151 Register of WHS entry permit holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Part 8 The regulator
Division 1 Functions of regulator
152 Functions of regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
153 Powers of regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
154 Delegation by regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Division 2 Powers of regulator to obtain information
155 Powers of regulator to obtain information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Part 9 Securing compliance
Division 1 Appointment of inspectors
156 Appointment of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
157 Identity cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
158 Accountability of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
159 Suspension and ending of appointment of inspectors . . . . . . . . . 130
Division 2 Functions and powers of inspectors
160 Functions and powers of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
161 Conditions on inspectors’ compliance powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
162 Inspectors subject to regulator’s directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Division 3 Powers relating to entry
Subdivision 1 General powers of entry
163 Powers of entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
164 Notification of entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
165 General powers on entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
166 Persons assisting inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Subdivision 2 Search warrants
167 Search warrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
167A Electronic application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
168 Announcement before entry on warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
169 Copy of warrant to be given to person with management or control of
Page 8