The Federal Government has committed millions of dollars to enforcing the impending WHS ban on engineered stone at the border, and conducting a comprehensive review of the Commonwealth jurisdiction's workers' compensation laws, under a "safer workplaces" package in its 2024-25 budget.
Australia's WHS and workers' compensation ministers have agreed to: work towards a major asbestos-removal plan targeting commercial buildings; implement WHS provisions to further crack down on silica risks; and reinstate the push for a national approach to protecting the psychological safety of first responders.
The new International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) guide to safety reporting and evaluation, with its increased focus on recognising and measuring "all the good that a business does", will improve safety culture through to the "boots on the ground ", according to the convenor of the working group that led its development.
Frontline public service workers will be afforded the same anti-violence protections as law enforcement officers, under a Commonwealth Bill inspired by the stabbing of a worker, and a review that called for legislative reforms and safer workplace designs.
All work processes where workers might be exposed to respirable silica will be considered high risk and subjected to tougher WHS regulations unless risk assessments prove otherwise, under one of a string of changes agreed by Australia's WHS ministers.
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has released new guidelines to help employers monitor, measure, analyse and evaluate their workplace health and safety performance, and warned against over-relying on lag indicators.
