The Honourable Grace Grace MP, Minister for Industrial Relations, announced an independent review of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).
The review is led by Mr Craig Allen, former Deputy Director General of the Office of Industrial Relations; Mr Charles Massy, a barrister specialising in Industrial Relations and Employment; and Ms Deirdre Swan, former Deputy President of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
The review is considering the overall effectiveness of the key components of the WHS Act in achieving its objectives, including:
- Considering and reporting on any need for amendments to ensure:
- provisions relating to health and safety representatives are effective and operating as intended
- workers are appropriately represented and assisted in the workplace for the purpose of health and safety matters
- the effectiveness of the legislative framework for review and stay provisions with enforcement notices under the WHS Act
- provisions relating to the issue and dispute resolution are effective and operating as intended.
- Any other matters relating to the WHS Act's overall effectiveness and performance in ensuring a balanced framework to secure health and safety of workers and workplaces and consider whether any legislative or administrative amendments are required.
View the review Terms of reference (PDF, 105 KB).
Have your say
The public consultation period for the Work Health and Safety Act Review has now closed.
The Review Report
The Review of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 - Final Report (PDF, 4.4 MB) and the Queensland Government’s response (PDF, 850 KB) are now available. The Palaszczuk Government has accepted all 31 recommendations outlined in the Review Report. It is anticipated legislation will be introduced to Parliament later this year to implement the majority of the recommendations.