Browsing: WHS Harmonisation (SA) | Page 4

Insurance policies that cover directors' OHS fines - as seen in the Adelaide desalination plant case - will force regulators to seek jail terms for offenders, or to have such contracts declared void under consumer laws, two prominent legal experts have told OHS Alert.

An employer and its director were yesterday handed the highest OHS fines in South Australian history, after the death of a worker at the Adelaide desalination plant. But the director's fine will be paid by his insurance company, and the judge in the case has warned that officers could similarly dodge penalties under the model WHS Act.

Apprentice-related supervision breaches can lead to recklessness fines; Queensland removes earthmoving requirement from WHS Regulation; and South Australian WHS Act added to Fair Work right-of-entry laws.

New SA WHS Bill to clarify right-to-silence provision; and OHS regulators issue summer and winter safety warnings.

New national rail and heavy-vehicle safety regulators begin today; and New Minister to oversee South Australian WHS Act.

Harmonised WHS Acts have commenced in South Australia and Tasmania, while in other jurisdictions new Codes of Practice have taken effect, and some transitional arrangements have expired or been extended.

Mirror WHS Acts take effect in South Australia and Tasmania in less than two weeks. In this article, OHS Alert points SA and Tas readers to the resources they need to prepare for the new laws, and looks at the ongoing transitional arrangements in other jurisdictions.

South Australia's mirror WHS Act will take effect on 1 January 2013, after passing through both houses of Parliament last night.

Provisions of South Australia's mirror WHS Bill - relating to control, union entry, height work, the right to silence and other issues - will be amended under a deal to ensure the passage of the legislation through Parliament.

Business SA has cited the length and complexity of the model Codes of Practice as one of the reasons it has withdrawn its support for South Australia's mirror Work Health and Safety Act.