Changes from 1 March 2025
Amendments to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (as per the Work Health and Safety (Sexual Harassment) Amendment Regulation 2024) will soon commence on 1 March 2025, requiring Queensland businesses and employers to prepare a written prevention plan to manage the risk of sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment at work.
The requirement of having a prevention plan follows other amendments that commenced on 1 September 2024, requiring employers to be proactive and implement control measures to minimise sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment.
In summary, the prevention plan must:
- be in writing;
- state each identified risk;
- identify the control measures implemented, or to be implemented, to manage each identified risk;
- identify the matters considered in determining the business’ control measures (e.g. age, gender, sexual orientation and a lack of diversity in the workplace generally or in particular decision-making positions);
- describe the consultation undertaken by the business (the business has a duty to consult workers in relation to WHS);
- set out procedures for dealing with reports of sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment; and
- be set out in a way that is readily accessible and understandable to workers.
Recommendations
To ensure businesses comply with the amendments, businesses should consider:
- positively managing the risk of sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment in the workplace;
- preparing and implementing a prevention plan (there are penalties associated with a failure to prepare and implement a prevention plan); and
- notifying workers of the prevention plan and ensuring workers know how to access it, when prepared and implemented.
Please contact our team of experts for any help you need to further understand these amendments to the WHS law.
This publication covers legal and technical issues in a general way. It is not designed to express opinions on specific cases. It is intended for information purposes only and should not be regarded as legal advice. Further advice should be obtained before taking action on any issue dealt with in this publication.
