New Compliance and Enforcement Policy

The harmonisation of occupational health and safety legislation throughout Australia is a step closer.

The Workplace Relations Ministerial Council has approved an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety.

This IGA commits all Australian governments to harmonising occupational health and safety legislation and to developing a nationally consistent approach to compliance and enforcement policy.

A national compliance and enforcement policy was drafted by a national committee and was agreed to as a framework for each jurisdiction in December 2008.

Queensland recently drafted a revised Compliance and Enforcement Policy based on this nationally agreed framework that reflects the Queensland legislative framework. The policy has been endorsed by the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations.

The policy will cover workplace health and safety, electrical safety and dangerous goods safety management. It sets out the strategy, the measures taken and the criteria being applied by the occupational health and safety authorities in undertaking their compliance and enforcement responsibilities under their legislation.

Following its publication on the occupational health and safety and electrical safety websites, public information sessions will be organised in late 2009.