Victoria Workplace Safety Bill Awaiting Assent
Monday 14 March 2022 @ 3.04 p.m. | Legal Research
On 9 March 2022, the Workplace Safety Legislation and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2021 (Vic) (“the Bill”) passed both houses of parliament with amendments. The Bill was initially introduced on 1 December 2021 in the Legislative Assembly by Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Melissa Horne ('the Minister'). The Bill proposed various amendments to workers compensation legislation.
In the Second Reading Speech the Minister summarised that:
“These amendments are designed to improve outcomes for injured workers and their families, enhance scheme operations and increase WorkSafe’s ability to prevent and respond to workplace safety incidents.”
The Bill contains amendments that seek to improve compensation arrangements for workers with certain work-related injuries and their families. Importantly, under the proposed amendments, workers with silicosis and other occupational diseases, who develop further related diseases after an initial compensation award will be eligible to make an additional common law compensation claim.
The Bill is now awaiting Assent.
Improved Access to Impairment Benefit Compensation
The Bill seeks to improve accessibility to impairment benefit compensation for workers with work-related injuries. An impairment benefit is a lump sum payment made to workers who have a permanent impairment caused by a work-related injury or illness.
Currently, workers are required to demonstrate that a disease has stablised for a period of 12 months before they are eligible to receive an impairment benefit. The Bill seeks to waive this requirement for eligible progressive diseases.
The Bill also seeks to insert a new section 51A into the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic). This section seeks to allow the Governor in Council (on recommendation of the Minister) to declare a disease as eligible for compensation. The declaration is to be done by an order published in the Government Gazette. This change aims to allow the Government to address new diseases more easily.
Increased Assistance for Family Members of Injured Workers
The Bill also seeks to continue and expand household help services payments. Once commenced, the Bill's amendments will allow family members of workers to claim benefits for payment of overseas funeral costs for work-related deaths.
The Minister explained in her Second Reading Speech that:
“[c]urrently, these costs are limited to those expenses incurred within Australia. This is in recognition of the many Victorian workers who are not born in Australia and may be repatriated overseas following their death”.
Expanded Regulatory Powers
WorkSafe inspectors are currently only able to issue employers with prohibition notices for activities that pose an immediate risk to the health or safety of a person. Once the amendments under the Bill commences, WorkSafe inspectors will be empowered to issue prohibition notices for activities that pose a serious risk emanating from immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard. By reducing the threshold for issuing of these notices, the Government hopes to address 'cumulative risk activities', such as those that expose workers to crystalline silica.
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Sources:
Workplace Safety Legislation and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2021 (Cth) and supporting materials available from TimeBase’s LawOne Service
