MEDIA STATEMENT: A Fresh Start for Queensland: New priorities for workplace health and safety

A Fresh Start for Queensland: New priorities for workplace health and safety   

• Productivity to be returned to worksites with changes to Workplace Health and Safety Permit Holder ‘Right to Entry’ laws, introduced to Parliament today.
• 24 hour notice period to be reinstated, except for immediate or imminent risks to health and safety of a worker, to bring in line with Commonwealth Fair Work Act.
• Move follows pause of Best Practice Industry Conditions, in commitment to return productivity to worksites while also protecting safety of workers.  

The Crisafulli Government has today acted to restore productivity to worksites, removing automatic right of entry for permit holders except for immediate or imminent risks to the health and safety of a worker. 

Legislation introduced to the Parliament today in the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, will require Workplace Health and Safety permit holders to provide at least 24 hours’ notice to exercise their right of entry to a workplace.

Reintroducing the requirement to provide notice ensures management, and their safety specialists, are available on site when entry permit holders come on site to discuss any safety concerns.  

The amendments also provide consistency with the requirements of the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009, which requires permit holders give at least 24 hours’ notice before exercising an entry right.  

Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations Jarrod Bleijie said all Queenslanders had the right to go to work, get paid well and to come home safely to their family. 

“These laws will stop the CFMEU using safety as an industrial weapon,” Mr Bleijie said. 

“The CFMEU’s cultural practice of bullying and intimidation that we see on Queensland worksites against workers, contractors, employers and the independent public servants who protect workers safety must end. 

“Reintroducing the requirement to provide at least 24 hours’ notice will provide a circuit breaker to recent tensions we’ve observed regarding entry and will provide employers with sufficient time to respond to WHS entry permit holders on issues that they may raise. 

“The LNP Government backs workers, their wages and their safety.” 

Recent changes introduced by the Electrical Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 to permit health and safety representatives (HSR) and WHS entry permit holders (EPHs) to take photos, videos, measurements and conduct tests at the workplace when undertaking their roles will no longer proceed. 

This is following concerns raised by industry representatives about protecting the privacy of individuals in workplaces. 

Following these immediate law changes being introduced today, the Queensland Government will also turn focus on the work health and safety framework to address gaps in the legislation around work-related violence and aggression.   

This will mean incidents of work-related violence and aggression, including physical and sexual assault, will come to the attention of the WHS Regulator, and that more serious events can be triaged for an inspectorate response.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

ENDS 

MEDIA CONTACT: Greg Thomson 0447 221 816