Queensland Government strips HSRs of recently acquired powers

In a move to unwind some of the powers given to health and safety representatives (HSRs) in Queensland, the State Government has repealed the right of HSRs to request and obtain information from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland about the issuing of improvement, prohibition and non-disturbance notices to employers.

In 2024, significant changes were made to the Queensland work health and safety (WHS) legislation, including:

requiring a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to inform HSRs about any notices issued by an inspector or WHS entry permit-holder, and provide them with a copy;
allowing HSRs to accompany inspectors or WHS entry permit-holders on site entries; and
requiring a copy of any incident notifications sent to the regulator to be provided to HSRs.

With the change of State Government in 2024, these laws were reviewed and the right of an HSR to require the regulator to provide information has been removed, leaving the right to seek information to be only from the PCBU at their respective workplace.

HSRs continue to have the power to issue Provisional Improvement Notices and also direct work to cease if they consider the work exposes workers to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard.

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