Browsing: WHS legislation, regulations, standards and codes (National) | Page 11

• Workplace COVID plans urged as restrictions ease in NSW;
  
• Commonwealth WHS Regulations amended for GHS 7; and
  
• Thirty-two WHS notices issued to ACT childcare centres.

• New diesel threshold takes immediate effect in WA;
  
• Federal Bill creates new framework for chemical risk controls;
  
• Change management process missing at time of tank rupture; and
  
• Safety inspectors rebuild failed structure for fatality probe.

• Model WHS Regulations amended ahead of GHS transition;
  
• PCBU fined $100k over child's collision injuries in Qld;
  
• All older tower cranes inspected too late in WA; and
  
• SA PCBU contravened WHS clause covering MEWPs.

• Patrons placed "blind trust" in deadly Dreamworld ride: magistrate;
  
• Comcare makes WHS exemption for GHS 7, opens awards; and
  
• WA amendments expedite lower workplace exposure limits.

A new WHS Code of Practice has provided PCBUs with clear guidance on their duties to consult with workers, health and safety representatives and other businesses in a COVID-19 context. Meanwhile, Comcare has produced a "micro-learn" video on using face masks at work in the pandemic.

• "Workforce bubbles" flagged for Vic's "COVIDSafe reopening";
  
• SWA releases guides to impending GHS 7 transition; and
  
• New legislation targets Defence Force suicides.

• COVID-19 and silica updates from NSW, Vic, WA and SWA;
  
• Manslaughter laws come with broader definition of workplace death; and
  
• Inventory overhauled for new risk-based chemical safety system.

• HSE adviser allegedly unlawfully snubbed by official;
  
• New WHS Code of Practice commences in NSW;
  
• Two more jurisdictions halve workplace silica threshold; and
  
• Draft national safety guidelines for asbestos-cement pipes released.

In a significant development, given the recent safety scandals involving the importation and use of asbestos-containing materials, the model WHS Act has been amended to make it mandatory for regulators to issue notices when they believe "prohibited asbestos" is present at a workplace, with maximum fines of $500,000 for those that fail to comply with a notice.

The national inquiry into workplace s-xual harassment has recommended the model WHS laws be amended to control psychosocial risks, in line with the Boland review, and that a WHS Code of Practice on s-xual harassment be developed.