Australia | Publication | November 2022
Welcome to our WHS Law Briefing. This briefing identifies key issues and emerging trends in WHS law, and details the significant legislative and case law developments to date in November 2022. Please contact our national WHS team contacts if you would like to discuss any of the matters in this briefing or would like any source materials which have not been included. We welcome your feedback.
| Psychosocial hazards |
Legal obligations for PCBUs to manage psychosocial hazards continue to come into effect. In July 2022, Safe Work Australia published the national model Code of Practice for managing psychosocial hazards at work, Since then, NSW has amended its WHS Regulation to impose obligations on PCBU’s to manage psychosocial risks in accordance with the general risk management provisions of the WHS Regulation (excluding clause 36 concerning hierarchy of control measures) and QLD has amended its WHS Regulation in the same way, but with a key difference to apply the hierarchy of controls to psychosocial risks. It is a matter of time before the other harmonised jurisdictions amend their WHS Regulations in the same way. |
| Changes to Model WHS Act | Safe Work Australia has amended the national model WHS Act, Regulations and related materials to give effect to 20 of the 34 recommendations made by Marie Boland’s independent review of the model WHS laws. The amendments to the model WHS Act do not apply in a jurisdiction until passed by the Parliament of the jurisdiction and enacted. This has occurred in a number of jurisdictions, including in NSW and QLD with respect to psychosocial risks (as mentioned above) and in NSW, WA and Victoria with respect to prohibiting insurance and indemnities for WHS penalties. |
| COVID-19 | National Cabinet agreed to end the mandatory isolation requirements for COVID-19 cases, and each jurisdiction has implemented the changes through amendments to their public health laws. Safe Work Australia and WHS Regulators have reminded duty holders that the removal of mandatory isolation does not impact on the duties of a PCBU to do all that is reasonably practicable to minimise the risks of COVID-19 at the workplace, including asking workers to stay at home when unwell. SafeWork Australia and WHS Regulators have updated (or are in the process of updating) their guidance materials to assist duty holders to continue to manage the risks of COVID-19 in the workplace. |
| Industrial manslaughter | The new Federal Government has committed to add industrial manslaughter provisions to the national model WHS Act, and South Australia’s new Labor Government has committed to adopting them. If introduced in South Australia, this will bring the state into line with ACT, NT, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia which already have industrial manslaughter laws. |
Publication
On 6 September 2022, the European Commission (EC) prohibited Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, bringing to an end the administrative stage of a legal saga that has attracted interest beyond competition law specialists.
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