The Queensland Resources Safety & Health Bill has been introduced into Parliament and will be reviewed by the State Development, Natural Resources and Agricultural Industry Development Committee before it is assented.
The Bill is essentially an Act to establish a statutory body called Resources Safety and Health Queensland to regulate safety and health in the resources sector.
The Act provides for establishing an employing office, provides for a Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health. It amends
the:
- Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999, the
- Explosives Act 1999;
- Mining and Quarrying Safety;
- Health Act 1999;
- Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004,
- Public Service Act 2008;
- Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Regulation 2019;
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 for particular purposes.
The Queensland Government says the bill will enhance the functions of the Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and the Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee to provide a more strategic focus in identifying critical safety and health risks. In addition to providing advice to the minister, the advisory committees will develop and evaluate progress against five-year strategic plans and develop action plans to achieve measurable targets.
Strategic plans will identify, quantify and prioritise safety and health issues facing the mining and quarrying sector. These priorities will inform appropriate actions to be taken by government, industry and workers. The enhanced functions of the advisory committees further strengthen the oversight, monitoring and transparency framework provided for in the bill and will build on proven tripartite working arrangements.
The bill also provides for an independent Work Health and Safety Prosecutor established under the Work Health and Safety Act to prosecute serious offences under resources safety legislation.
Only the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor will be able to prosecute serious offences, while other offences may be prosecuted by the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor or the chief executive officer of RSHQ.
Utilising the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor will enhance transparency and independent decision-making in relation to prosecutions and promote the efficiency of the process.
READ THE RESOURCES SAFETY AND HEALTH BILL HERE
The bill amends resources safety legislation to define serious offences that would be prosecuted by the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor. For mining and quarrying, a serious offence will be an offence where a person on whom a safety and health obligation is imposed contravenes the obligation
and the contravention causes death, grievous bodily harm, bodily harm or involves exposure to a substance which is likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm or an offence prescribed by regulation.
The bill adopts similar serious offence provisions for explosives and petroleum and gas. Individuals will have the ability to submit a written request to the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor seeking that a
proceeding is brought in relation to a particular act or omission which constitutes a serious offence.
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