Committee Details

COMMITTEE'S REPORT

The Committee tabled its Report No. 5 55th Parliament - Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 on 6 July 2015. The Bill was PASSED with amendment by the Queensland Parliament on 14 October 2015. The Treasurer, Hon C Pitt MP, tabled the Government's response to this report on 12 October 2015.

ABOUT THE BILL

On 7 May 2015 the Treasurer, Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships introduced the Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 into the Queensland Parliament.  In accordance with Standing Order 131, the Bill was referred to the Finance and Administration Committee for detailed consideration.  The Parliament agreed a motion that the Committee report by 6 July 2015.

The policy objectives of the Bill, as outlined in the explanatory notes, are to implement election commitments made by the Government as part of the Improving safety for Queenslanders at work policy, including:

• restoring right of entry powers allowing WHS entry permit holders to gain immediate access to a workplace to inquire into a suspected contravention of the WHS Act;
• empowering trained health and safety representatives (HSR) to direct workers to cease unsafe work;
• amending the current incident notification requirements to include an additional requirement for employers to notify the regulator when a worker is absent for more than four days due to a workplace injury; and
• improving electrical safety by re-instating the Electrical Safety Commissioner, Electrical Safety Education Committee, Electrical Equipment Committee which were abolished in 2012.

PUBLIC BRIEFINGs AND PUBLIC HEARING

Public briefings – 3 June 2015 (Transcript) and 22 June 2015 (Transcript)
Public hearing – 15 June 2015 (Transcript)

SUBMISSIONS

The date for written submissions closed on 9 June 2015. Please view them under the “Submissions” tab above.