ACT Work Safety Regulation 2009 exposure draft

On 5 June, 2009, the ACT Minister for Industrial Relations, John Hargreaves, released an exposure draft of the Work Safety Regulation 2009 for consultation with the Canberra community, stating: “These regulations underpin the Work Safety Act 2008 and provide an optimal framework for promoting and securing work safety in the territory.”

In August 2008, the Legislative Assembly passed the Work Safety Act 2008. This Act will come into effect on 1 October 2009 and will replace the existing Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989.

“Introducing the Work Safety Act 2008 represents a major step in improving work safety outcomes,” continued Hargreaves. “I now intend to introduce the first stage of the work safety regulations which will sit under the Act and provide additional detail on specific work safety issues, such as workplace arrangements, licensing high-risk work and manual tasks at work.

“I invite all individuals and organisations to comment and make submissions on the draft regulations. Community views are important to ensure the new work safety legislation is effective and responsive to the needs of the ACT workforce and business.”

A discussion paper and workplace arrangements guide have been developed to assist the consultation process. The discussion paper provides an overview of the exposure draft, outlines the main provisions and the workplace arrangements guide, and brings together the provisions in Part 4 of the Act and the proposed workplace arrangements provisions in the regulations.

All comments and submissions must be received by 20 July 2009. All of the documents can be downloaded from www.legislation.act.gov.au/ed/default.asp after COB 5 June 2009.