To achieve greater consistency throughout Australia, the States and Territories have unified the different Health and Safety laws within each state by implementing a new National Harmonisation of Australia’s Work Health and Safety Legislation (WHS).
The new WHS laws apply to ALL Australian employers and workers and set out new Codes of Practice to regulate the existing laws to create a more consistent Work Health and Safety standard.
Legislation has been introduced around exercising due diligence (including managing incidents more effectively) and increased penalties for breaching the Legislation.
These new Codes of Practice cover areas in operating a business or organisation such as:
- Up-to-date knowledge of WHS matters.
- Understanding of business operations and the associated risks.
- Appropriate resources are available and used to eliminate or minimise hazards.
- Processes for responding to incidents and hazards and responding in a timely manner.
- Processes for complying with obligations under the Legislation, for example, reporting, consultations and training.
- Being aware of the increased compliance with Incident Management and Contractor Management requirements
In some states, the harmonisation laws mean quite big changes to policies, processes, procedures and systems, including in some instances significant changes to penalties.
Tubal can conduct a complete analysis of a business operation that will ensure compliance with the new WHS laws through the following services:
- Full WHS workplace audits and thorough analysis reports.
- Provision of appropriate WHS policies and procedures for risk identification and minimisation.
- Training and assessment of employees to national standards.
- Access to Tubal’s unique WHS & Workplace Management system