Work Health and Safety Regulation in Australia

Work health and safety regulation is an important and fast developing area of labour law. Over the past decade work health and safety law in Australia has undergone major reform, with all but one of the Australian jurisdictions adopting the Model Work Health and Safety Act 2010 (the Model Act). This book analyses the Australian work health and safety statutes just over 11 years after the Model Act was first adopted.

Written by an experienced academic labour lawyer and a leading work health and safety legal practitioner, the book explains work health and safety law in Australia – principally the Work Health and Safety Acts enacted since 2011 in all Australian jurisdictions apart from Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic), and judicial interpretation of these statutory provisions. It provides a historical and policy context to the legislation, outlines practical issues, elucidates its practical operation, critically analyses its provisions, and makes proposals for the future development of the legislation.

Johnstone and Tooma critically analyse the Work Health and Safety Acts and the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 in six chapters:

introduction to the Australian work health and safety statutes
the general duties of PCBUs and employers
the general duties of officers, workers, employees and other persons at a workplace
worker representation, consultation and participation
inspection and enforcement
final observations and proposals.