Section 277 of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2020 (Western Australia) requires the Minister for Industrial Relations to undertake a five-yearly review on the effectiveness of the Act and prepare a report for Parliament based on the Review. This review is currently underway, and the public consultation phase ended on November 28. A final report with recommendations is expected to be tabled in the Western Australian (WA) Parliament in late 2026.
This review is coincidentally coinciding with a national review of the model legislation being undertaken by Safe Work Australia (SWA). See my previous blog “The Review of the National Model WHS Laws” for more information.
So, what are some of the key aspects of the Western Australian Review? There is some general feedback sought in relation the effectiveness of the Act, the duties it describes and provisions for consultation, representation and participation.
WA has an additional provision (26A) for duties of WHS Service Providers, i.e. this was not included in the model Bill. The review seeks feedback on whether this is suitable or whether it is causing negative outcomes. It should be noted that there have been no prosecutions under section 26A yet.
Changes to incident notification are being proposed at a national level for consideration by the jurisdictions. These include some changes to administrative provisions relating to incident notification. There are also some additional notifiable incidents being proposed. These include (but not limited to):
- The fall of a person
- Sexual assault
- Suicide (Note that this is already included in the list of reportable incidents under the WHS Mines Regulations)
- Injuries and illnesses the result in the worker being unable to work for 15 or more days (Note the existing WHS Act WA includes the provision for 10 days or more off work)
The review is also considering the introduction of infringement notices and to allow for certain notices relating to psychosocial hazards to not be displayed at workplaces.