Changes to the NSW Workplace Health and Safety Legislation

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Recently, the NSW Government passed a new workplace safety bill harmonising with the federal government’s workplace health safety legislation. Until now, each state has had seperate workpalce health and safety laws with NSW being the first state in Australia to fully integrate at a national level.

It makes sense to cut the red tape and unify the state laws into one single set of national legislation but the advantages go further than just simplifying the legislation; workers and businesses will benefit by:

* maintaining the state’s strong work, health and safety framework
* keep businesses accountable
* reduce compliance costs and red tape for employees
* regardless of where you do business in Australia, the same laws will apply

In addition to the benefits outlined above, the new nation-wide laws will continue to protect the rights of the Work Health and Safety representatives. Representatives will still be able to entre workplaces in order to investigate health and safety issues while for the first time they will have the power to take action over safety breaches.

Despite the implementation not taking full effect until 1 January 2012, the Government has fast tracked aspects of the legislation to align with the federal model. For more information on Workplace Health and Safety, visist www.workcover.nsw.gov.au.