New Health and Safety Laws from 1st January 2012

Following a long and arduous process, the NSW government will be introducing a new Act that describes the requirements of workplaces in the state. This legislation mirrors that of other states and you may have heard terms like harmonisation or harmonised legislation. This is because the legislation is planned to be the same across all states and territories, but NSW will be the first to introduce the new Work Health and Safety Act.

While the intent of keeping everyone safe and healthy is retained there are a number of differences between the current and new legislation. The Health and Safety team will be providing a number of information packages for delivery during 2012, but in the interim, a new on-line information tool has been placed on the health and safety web page that provides some of the basic information on the new WHS Act.