By
Gaby Grammeno
Contributor
In the world of work health and safety compliance, nothing stays the same for very long. New requirements mean that employers now must actively manage psychosocial risks and arrange hearing tests for workers who often use hearing protection, among other changes. Tougher penalties will add to the pressure for compliance.
Risks are changing as well as requirements. For example, changing weather patterns bring a rise in the risk of mosquito-borne diseases for outdoor workers, the popularity of engineered stone kitchen benchtops has exposed a new cohort of workers to damage from silica dust, and the rapid take-up of solar panel installation means more people than ever are clambering about on roofs and at risk of falling. Not to mention the added stress of artificial intelligence threatening job security and accelerating change in job design and process.
The changes in WHS requirements are in line with a long-term trend to provide more protection to working people so that no one has their life wrecked by what happens at work.
Managing psychosocial risks
Workers’ health has long been defined under WHS laws to include mental health, and in recent years there’s been a growing recognition that people’s psychological wellbeing can be severely harmed by psychosocial hazards at work. Psychosocial hazards include bullying, aggression, sexual or gender-based harassment, as well as conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions. High job demands with low control, poor change management, and lack of organisation justice can also present psychosocial risks.
Across Australia, employers and people with management and control of a workplace now have a positive obligation to actively prevent or minimise sexual harassment and other psychosocial risks to their workforce, rather than just responding to complaints. The WHS Regulations s.55D and the model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work set out steps employers should take to identify and manage psychosocial risks.
New requirements for hearing tests in NSW
Employers in NSW whose workers are exposed to high levels of noise need to know that the long-expected commencement of Clause 58 ‘Audiometric Testing’ of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 took effect on 1 January 2024, following extensive public consultation.
This means that if your workers frequently use hearing protection as a control measure for noise exceeding the exposure standard, you must now provide hearing tests for workers. The employer or other person conducting the business or undertaking (PCBU) must organise and pay for the test.
New workers must have a baseline hearing test within three months of starting on the job, then follow-up monitoring tests at least every two years to check for any work-related hearing loss. If the test indicates that hearing is being impaired, the regulation sets out measures you must take to address the problem.
Workers already employed before 1 January 2024 need to have hearing tests before 1 January 2026. Workers exposed to high noise levels for their whole shift might need more frequent hearing tests.
Responsibilities for audiometric testing are already in place for employers in all other jurisdictions except Queensland and Western Australia.
Ban on engineered stone from 1 July 2024
The engineered stone industry is facing a prohibition on the manufacture of engineered stone products from 1 July this year. This follows a report highlighting the lung damage caused by the small particles of silica dust produced when engineered stone is cut, modified, or otherwise worked in ways that generate dust.
Silica dust exposure in construction and tunnelling also carries the risk of dust disease, and these industries will be in the spotlight during a six-month campaign in NSW to make workplaces safer.
Tighter standard for welding fumes
The fumes from welding can cause adverse health effects in exposed workers, including eye and respiratory irritation, asthma, metal fume fever, nervous system damage, and lung and kidney cancer. The workplace exposure standard for welding fumes has dropped from 5 mg/m3 to 1 mg/m3 (as an eight-hour time-weighted average). Employers affected by the change may need to reassess workers’ exposure and improve ventilation controls.
Tougher penalties and safety campaigns
Effective management of WHS risks is good for business and boosts the bottom line. Further incentives could include the fact that maximum fines and prison terms have doubled in NSW, with the penalties for the most serious offences rising to $2,168,029, and/or 10 years’ imprisonment. Together with the various safety campaigns in each jurisdiction – such as safety inspectors’ visits to harvesting operations and grain receival businesses in the Riverina Murray region, the spotlight on snorkelling in Queensland, and a focus on injuries involving kickback from quick cut saw in WA – employers should many good reasons to ensure safe working conditions.
