Work Health and Safety Act 2011
LegislationReferenced in 45 bills
Gas Supply and Other Legislation (Hydrogen Industry Development) Amendment Bill 2023
This bill updates Queensland's gas laws to regulate hydrogen and other renewable gases alongside traditional natural gas. It creates a 'covered gas' category that includes hydrogen, biomethane, synthetic methane and gas blends, and establishes a clear licensing pathway for hydrogen pipelines. The changes support Queensland's renewable hydrogen industry, which could be worth over $33 billion by 2040.
Mines Legislation (Resources Safety) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill strengthens safety and health laws for Queensland mines in response to the re-emergence of black lung disease. It delivers 15 improvements including higher penalties, proactive duties on company directors, a new civil penalty regime, mandatory safety systems for small opal and gem mines, and broader inspector powers.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill restores workplace safety protections that were wound back in 2014 and re-establishes key electrical safety oversight bodies. It gives trained health and safety representatives the power to order unsafe work to stop, lets union safety inspectors enter workplaces immediately to investigate suspected breaches, and requires employers to notify the regulator when a worker is off for more than four days due to injury.
Disaster Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill restructures Queensland's fire and emergency services by splitting the former Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) into two dedicated services — Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR) for urban firefighting and Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ) for bushfire management and rural brigades. It also strengthens disaster management coordination by clarifying the Police Commissioner's role, creating new recovery coordination positions, and expanding the Queensland Reconstruction Authority's functions. Additionally, it requires smoke alarms in all registered caravans and motorised caravans.
Waste Reduction and Recycling (Waste Levy) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill introduces a waste disposal levy in Queensland, starting at $70 per tonne from 4 March 2019, to discourage sending waste to landfill and boost recycling. The levy funds a $100 million Resource Recovery Industry Development Program and stops Queensland being used as a cheap dumping ground for interstate waste.
Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill overhauls Queensland's building industry payment protections by replacing project bank accounts with a new statutory trust system that holds subcontractor money in trust. It also cracks down on fraudulent behaviour in the industry, introduces a demerit point system for building certifiers, strengthens regulation of architects and engineers, and preserves review rights for retirement village transition plans.
Resources Safety and Health Queensland Bill 2019
This bill establishes Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) as an independent statutory body to regulate safety and health across Queensland's coal mining, mineral mining, quarrying, explosives, and petroleum and gas industries. It separates the safety regulator from the department that promotes industry growth, responding to the coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) inquiry that found the regulator lacked independence. The bill also creates an independent Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health and gives the Work Health and Safety prosecutor responsibility for prosecuting serious safety offences.
Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill makes wide-ranging changes to Queensland's resources, energy, and water laws. It introduces industrial manslaughter offences for the mining and resources sector, reforms how the State manages mine rehabilitation and abandoned mines, tightens scrutiny of who can hold resource authorities, extends energy consumer protections, and increases transparency of water infrastructure charges in South East Queensland.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill overhauls Queensland's workplace health and safety framework by implementing recommendations from two major reviews. It strengthens health and safety representatives, gives registered unions a direct role in workplace safety matters, makes it easier to prosecute the most serious safety offences by adding negligence as a fault element, and bans insurance against WHS fines.
Water Legislation (Dam Safety) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill updates Queensland's dam safety laws after community concerns about how flood releases from Callide Dam and Wivenhoe Dam were handled in 2015. It makes dam owners responsible for warning downstream communities (not just notifying them), gets local councils more involved in checking dam emergency plans, and lets dam owners lower water levels when engineers find safety risks. It also cuts red tape for small dam owners and reduces overlap with workplace and mining safety laws.
Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill moves Labour Day back to the first Monday in May and the Queen's Birthday to the first Monday in October from 2016 onwards. It also lets people apply online for high risk work licences (for cranes, forklifts and scaffolding) by reusing driver licence photos, and consolidates the rules about digital photos and signatures across six transport and ID laws into one place.
North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability and Others Acts Amendment Bill 2015
This bill reverses 2013 changes that had extended sand mining on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) out to 2035, restoring the original plan to end mining substantially by 2019. It also creates a new power for former mine operators across Queensland to re-enter land to finish rehabilitation after their mining leases expire.
Building and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill modernises Queensland's building and plumbing laws across several areas. It strengthens homeowners' rights to install solar panels and hot water systems free from aesthetic-based restrictions by developers and body corporates, expands permissible uses of treated greywater in large buildings, allows holding tanks for sewage and greywater under local government permits, and improves the QBCC's regulatory and enforcement powers.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill amends eight health-related Acts to improve Queensland's health system. It strengthens protections for public health workers, modernises the Queensland Cancer Register to collect better data on cancer diagnosis and treatment, enables schools to share information with the children's vision screening program, and simplifies organ donation consent in private hospitals.
Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes changes across five unrelated policy areas bundled into one piece of legislation. It restructures the 2032 Olympics infrastructure authority, repeals the Path to Treaty Act 2023 (ending First Nations treaty and truth-telling processes), winds back workplace safety entry powers for union officials, clarifies planning rules for State Facilitated Development, and strengthens the independence of the Public Sector Commissioner.
Electrical Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill strengthens Queensland's electrical safety laws by giving the regulator clearer, more accountable powers to ban unsafe electrical equipment and by confirming that electricity distributors can legally issue defect notices for unsafe equipment found at properties. It also removes an uncommenced workplace health and safety provision before it takes effect.
Queensland Building and Construction Commission and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill modernises Queensland's building and construction licensing framework to support digital licences and electronic communications. It removes the requirement for the QBCC to issue licences as physical cards, allows documents to be served electronically, and streamlines safety incident reporting so licensees only need to notify one regulator instead of two.
Payroll Tax Rebate, Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill is an omnibus package that amends nine Acts. Its centrepiece is a 25 per cent payroll tax rebate on apprentice and trainee wages for three years, backed by $45 million. It also sets up the legal framework for electronic property conveyancing, creates a stamp duty concession for mining exploration farm-in deals, delays anti-bikie licensing rules by 12 months, and requires licensed plumbers to install water meters.
Exhibited Animals Bill 2015
This bill creates a single law for exhibiting animals in Queensland, covering zoos, wildlife parks, aquariums, circuses and mobile animal shows. It replaces four overlapping Acts with one exhibition licence and a new legal duty to minimise animal welfare, biosecurity and public safety risks.
Transport Operations (Marine Safety-Domestic Commercial Vessel National Law Application) Bill 2015
This bill closes a regulatory gap by bringing the last 5% of Queensland's commercial boats under the national marine safety system. It applies the Commonwealth's Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law to vessels owned by individuals, sole traders and partnerships that operate only in Queensland waters, so every commercial vessel in the state follows the same national safety rules.
Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017
This bill sets up a mandatory licensing scheme for labour hire companies in Queensland to crack down on worker exploitation and restore confidence in the industry. Providers must be licensed, pass a fit and proper person test and report every six months, while businesses that use them must only engage licensed operators. A public register and a new inspectorate back the scheme up, with penalties of up to three years' imprisonment or $3,000+ penalty units for corporations.
Building and Construction Legislation (Non-conforming Building Products - Chain of Responsibility and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill strengthens Queensland's building safety laws after the Melbourne Lacrosse Tower cladding fire and the Infinity cables recall. It makes every link in the building product supply chain - designers, manufacturers, importers, suppliers and installers - legally responsible for making sure products are safe and fit for purpose. It also gives the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) new powers to investigate, seize dangerous products, and share safety information with other regulators.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill improves Queensland's workers' compensation scheme based on a major independent review, strengthens protections for apprentices and trainees, and requires Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander representation on the TAFE Queensland Board. It also repeals the redundant Commonwealth Games Arrangements Act 2011.
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill introduces a new criminal offence of industrial manslaughter in Queensland, with up to 20 years jail for employers or senior officers whose negligence causes a worker's death and up to $10 million for companies. It follows a government review prompted by the Dreamworld and Eagle Farm worker fatalities and also creates an independent WHS Prosecutor, expands workplace safety dispute powers to the Industrial Relations Commission, and brings back Workplace Health and Safety Officers.
Electrical Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill updates Queensland's electrical safety and workplace health and safety laws based on recommendations from five major reviews. It brings new technologies like e-scooters and battery storage systems under electrical safety regulation, strengthens industrial manslaughter laws to cover deaths of bystanders, makes it easier to prosecute serious safety breaches, and gives worker safety representatives new powers to document hazards.
Transport and Other Legislation (Personalised Transport Reform) Amendment Bill 2017
This bill sets up a new regulatory framework for taxis, limousines and ride-booking services like Uber in Queensland. It creates new licence and authorisation categories, imposes a chain of responsibility for safety across the industry, and strengthens penalties for unlicensed services.
Mines Legislation (Resources Safety) Amendment Bill 2018
This bill strengthens safety and health protections for workers in Queensland's coal mining, quarrying, and metalliferous mining sectors. Prompted by the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (black lung disease), it increases penalties for safety breaches, introduces civil penalties for corporations, requires company directors to proactively ensure safety compliance, and improves disease reporting and health surveillance for current and former mine workers.
Local Government (Empowering Councils) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
This bill reforms Queensland's local government laws to give councils and mayors more authority, simplify the councillor conduct and conflicts of interest frameworks, and cut red tape across a range of council operations. It responds to concerns from the local government sector about unnecessary regulatory burden, particularly around conduct complaints, mandatory training, and disaster recovery decision-making during election caretaker periods.
Resources Safety and Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill overhauls safety and health laws for Queensland's mining, quarrying, petroleum and gas, and explosives industries. It responds to the Brady Review of fatal mining accidents and the Coal Mining Board of Inquiry by introducing critical control requirements, mandatory professional development for safety roles, stronger enforcement tools, and clearer industrial manslaughter liability for labour hire and contractor arrangements.
Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill overhauls Queensland's workers' compensation system based on a 2023 independent review, while also updating industrial relations and labour hire licensing laws. It strengthens rehabilitation requirements, speeds up payments to injured workers, expands cancer protections for firefighters, and lays the groundwork for future gig worker coverage.
Public Health (Water Risk Management) Amendment Bill 2016
This bill amends the Public Health Act 2005 to make Queensland hospitals and residential aged care facilities actively manage the risk of Legionella and other waterborne hazards in their water supplies. It was introduced after a 2013 Legionnaires' disease outbreak at The Wesley Hospital in Brisbane.
Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill restores the right of injured Queensland workers to sue their employer for damages at common law, even for minor injuries, by scrapping the 5% impairment threshold introduced in 2013. It also treats 12 listed cancers as work-related injuries for long-serving firefighters and stops employers from checking a job applicant's workers' compensation claims history.
Criminal Code (Decriminalising Sex Work) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill decriminalises sex work in Queensland by repealing criminal offences that made most forms of sex work illegal and abolishing the brothel licensing system. It implements recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission to treat sex work as legitimate work, while introducing new offences specifically targeting the exploitation of children and coercion in commercial sexual services.
Land, Explosives and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill updates multiple regulatory frameworks within Queensland's Natural Resources, Mines and Energy portfolio. It strengthens explosives safety and security, protects Cape York Peninsula heritage land from mining, modernises State land compliance powers, facilitates electronic conveyancing, improves gas safety regulation, and enhances Indigenous land management options.
Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024
This bill makes major reforms to Queensland's anti-discrimination laws, implementing recommendations from the national Respect@Work inquiry, the QHRC's Building Belonging review, and parliamentary committee reports on vilification. It also strengthens sentencing for workplace violence, clarifies judicial immunity, and gives magistrates access to parental leave.
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation (Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill improves workers' compensation for Queensland coal miners and others with dust-related lung diseases, sets up a committee so families of workers killed or seriously injured at work have a formal voice, and strengthens electrical licensing safety rules. It responds to the re-identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) in Queensland.
Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill clarifies and simplifies Queensland's security of payment framework for the building and construction industry, which protects subcontractors from late or non-payment through project trust accounts and retention trust accounts. It also implements governance reforms for the QBCC and makes minor improvements to licensing and regulatory processes across six Acts.
Rail Safety National Law (Queensland) Bill 2016
This bill brings Queensland into Australia's national rail safety regime from 1 July 2017. It applies the Rail Safety National Law as a law of Queensland, repeals the Transport (Rail Safety) Act 2010, and makes the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator responsible for rail safety here. It also strengthens drug and alcohol rules for rail workers and funds federal investigators to look into rail accidents.
Serious and Organised Crime Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
This bill dismantles Queensland's 2013 anti-bikie laws and replaces them with a new Organised Crime Regime. It repeals the VLAD Act and Criminal Organisation Act 2009, removes mandatory minimum penalties targeting gang members, and introduces a new consorting offence, control orders, public safety orders and a mandatory seven-year jail 'top-up' for serious organised crime. It also toughens laws on online child exploitation, boiler-room fraud and drug trafficking, and restores fair process rights for people applying for licences in regulated industries such as tattooing and security.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
This bill makes wide-ranging amendments to health and retirement village legislation. It repeals Queensland's separate medicinal cannabis approval system in favour of the Commonwealth framework, creates a mandatory register for occupational dust lung diseases like black lung and silicosis, gives Queensland Health new powers to issue public pollution notices, streamlines radiation safety licensing, modernises tissue donation laws for research, and requires retirement village operators to buy back unsold freehold units within 18 months.
Coroners (Mining and Resources Coroner) Amendment Bill 2025
This bill creates a dedicated Mining and Resources Coroner who must investigate and hold mandatory public inquests into all accidental deaths at coal mines, mines, quarries, and petroleum and gas sites in Queensland. It implements the government's election commitment to increase oversight of mining-related fatalities and ensure families receive answers about how their loved ones died.
Transport and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
This bill makes a wide range of changes to Queensland's transport laws. It transfers heavy vehicle regulatory staff to the national regulator, strengthens road safety rules for e-scooter and bicycle riders on footpaths, extends safety duties to all bus and public passenger services, and modernises toll payment dispute processes.
Land, Explosives and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill is an omnibus package that makes changes across nine Queensland laws in the natural resources and mines portfolio. It strengthens explosives security, modernises gas safety, protects two Cape York properties from mining, gives Indigenous communities more flexibility over land and social housing, and updates state land compliance powers and property titling.
Industrial Relations Bill 2016
This bill replaces Queensland's Industrial Relations Act 1999 with an entirely new framework governing work for the state's public service, local councils and Brisbane City Council. It sets new minimum employment conditions, makes collective bargaining the main way to negotiate pay and conditions, introduces paid domestic and family violence leave for the first time, and makes Easter Sunday a public holiday from 2017.
Queensland Community Safety Bill 2024
This bill implements a wide-ranging package of community safety reforms across policing, criminal law, weapons regulation, youth justice, domestic violence protections, and road safety. It expands police powers to scan for knives in more public places, introduces Firearm Prohibition Orders against high-risk individuals, creates new offences to protect emergency workers, and establishes a framework for removing criminal content from social media.