Work Health and Safety (WHS) Changes

New health and safety legislation has come into effect across much of Australia from 1st January, 2012.

As the new legislation is aimed at making Work Health and Safety (WHS) protections consistent across Australia, major changes and impacts are not likely to be noticeable for individual workers.

At UWS, we are in the process of updating our WHS policies and procedures in line with the legislative changes. The main impact of the new legislation for UWS staff will be the new opportunities for developing and implementing WHS consultation arrangements at UWS.

WHS Consultation at UWS

At UWS, WHS consultation will occur across several levels of the organisation. The UWS WHS Consultation Structure diagram (PDF, 73.15 KB) (opens in a new window)  shows the different WHS consultation options available.

The main WHS consultation option for UWS workers is through campus-based WHS committees. These are formed through Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) and general committee members from each campus location.

Nominations and, where needed voting is undertaken to form the WHS committee membership. Representatives from Capital Works and Facilities and Security will be invited to participate in these committees.

A University-wide WHS committee will sit above the campus-based WHS committees and will be formed through nominees from each campus-based WHS committee as well as representatives from UWS Executive and unions. The University-wide WHS committee will consider issues that are broader than a single campus location or operational area. All operational areas (Schools, Groups, Divisions or Units) are able to develop their own complementary local WHS consultation arrangements in consultation with their workers. These groups can also report issues and ideas up to members of the campus-based WHS committee members.

For assistance or information about WHS consultation at UWS, please contact: whs@uws.edu.au

Fact Sheets

More information about the changes

The aim of the new legislation is to harmonise workplace health and safety legislation across all Commonwealth, state and territory governments. An intergovernmental agreement was formed so that the same health and safety protections are available across the country.

In NSW this legislation is the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) (opens in a new window). The legislative reforms also include harmonised Regulation (WHS Regulation) and Codes of Practice.

In NSW the main changes under the new WHS Act include:

  • Employers (UWS) are now known as a “person conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBU).
  • Employees are now known as “workers” (see Workers Fact Sheet (opens in a new window) (PDF, 223Kb)) and the definition of a worker has been broadened to include all persons carrying out work for the PCBU, this includes employees as well as contractors, apprentices, trainees, subcontractors, labour-hire staff, students and volunteers.
  • WHS Consultation arrangements are changing to reflect the requirements of the new legislation (see WHS Consultation Fact Sheet (opens in a new window) (PDF, 230Kb)). You can expect to be asked to contribute to the WHS consultation arrangements that are put into place for you and your co-workers.
  • Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) (see HSR Fact Sheet (opens in a new window) (PDF, 280Kb)) are a new way of consulting and replace the previous Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Representatives. After training a HSR will be able to issue provisional improvement notices (PINs) and direct unsafe work to cease.
  • “Officers” of a PCBU will have a duty of due diligence to ensure the PCBU complies with the WHS legislation.
  • Refer to the WHS General Changes fact sheet (opens in a new window) (PDF, 230Kb) for further information.