WHS Codes of Practice have been adopted, tweaked or released for comment in Queensland and NSW, while the MUA has slammed a renewed call to scrap the draft WHS Code for stevedoring in the wake of a workplace death.
The process of finalising 12 model WHS Codes of Practice - including those on workplace traffic management and plant design - is likely to stretch well beyond two years, with the documents still needing to be "considered" by Ministers of the now-defunct Select Council on Workplace Relations.
Comcare, the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Council and Safe Work Australia have been spared in the Federal Budget, with the latter being tasked with reviewing and removing "unnecessary" regulation from the model WHS laws.
Australia's state and territory governments have all agreed to examine ways to reduce the "red tape" associated with the model WHS Act, while Tasmania looks likely to be the next jurisdiction to significantly amend its version of the laws.
The Victorian Labor Party has made it clear that it won't introduce a mirror WHS Bill if it wins the next State election, while a leading OHS lawyer has called for the harmonisation "farce" to be scrapped and replaced with uniform laws.
Safety regulators are more likely than ever to ask PCBUs for evidence of their consultation processes, and to view minutes from committee meetings, a workplace health and safety lawyer has warned.
Queensland's WHS Amendment Bill has passed through Parliament, with the Bill's architect - the Attorney-General - repeating his seemingly incongruous boast that work injury rates are falling under the current laws. Meanwhile, Safe Work Australia is keeping tight-lipped on its position on the Queensland changes.
The Ai Group has used the results of its annual CEO survey to call for less onerous OHS and IR laws, but do CEOs really believe safety laws inhibit growth?
An employer has been found guilty of breaching Queensland's mirror WHS Act in a case, according to a leading safety lawyer, that demonstrates how important it is for companies to challenge questionable prohibition or improvement notices.
