Legislative 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.

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 (PDF, 223.08 KB) (opens in a new window)) 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 (PDF, 229.71 KB) (opens in a new window)). 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 (PDF, 279.8 KB) (opens in a new window)) 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”  (see Officers Fact Sheet (PDF, 256.39 KB)) (opens in a new window) 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 (PDF, 230.14 KB) (opens in a new window) for further information.