Health and safety legislation
The principal legislation relevant to health and safety in New South Wales workplaces is the:
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (opens an external site),
- supported by the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (opens an external site).
Other legislation relating to the environment, health and safety applicable to UTS and its operations include:
New South Wales
- Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (opens an external site)
- Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985 (opens an external site)
- Food Act 2003 (opens an external site)
- Gene Technology (New South Wales) Act 2003 (opens an external site)
- Ozone Protection Act 1989 (opens an external site)
- Pesticides Act 1999 (opens an external site)
- Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966 (opens an external site)
- Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (opens an external site)
- Public Health Act 1991 (opens an external site)
- Radiation Control Act 1990 (opens an external site)
- Smoke-free Environment Act 2000 (opens an external site)
- Workers Compensation Act 1987 (opens an external site)
- Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2005 (opens an external site)
- Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Act 2000 (opens an external site)
- Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (opens an external site)
Commonwealth
- Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 (opens an external site)
- Gene Technology Act 2000 (opens an external site)
- Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 2000 (opens an external site)
What's in the new health and safety laws?
On 1 June 2011, the NSW Parliament passed a Bill to enact new model work health and safety (WHS) laws, in line with the movement towards harmonisation of WHS legislation and standards across Australia. The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 took effect on 1 January 2012.
WorkCover NSW have produced a summary (PDF, 1.3Mb) of the implications of the WHS Act 2011 in comparison to the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 that it superseded. It looks at key changes, duties and duty holders, penalties for breaches of duties, who is an "officer" and due diligence.
A similar summary (PDF, 42Kb - UTS staff/student login required to view) from The Brief Group Pty Ltd is available.
A summary and list of key changes in the work health and safety regulations (PDF, 6.18 Mb) is also available from WorkCover NSW.
Further information is available from the WorkCover Authority of NSW and Safe Work Australia.
