Law Compliance Report - current edition - Report - Page 9
August 2024 Edition
Queensland Update
Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024
(Qld)
On 28 March 2024, the Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024
(Qld) (the Amending Act) amended the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (the Act) to
make it an offence for an organisation to have insurance or other arrangements that will
insure or indemnify them against liability for a monetary penalty under the Act.
Insurance or other indemnity against
penalties
The maximum penalty for breach of section 272A of
the Act is 500 penalty units (currently, $96,155).
Section 272A(1) has been inserted into the Act to
make it an offence for a person, without a
reasonable excuse, to enter (section 272A(1)(a)),
provide (section 272A(1)(b)) or take a benefit from
(section 272A(1)(c)) a contract or arrangement that
purports to insure or indemnify a person for liability
for all or part of a monetary penalty under the Act.
Note, however, that pursuant to section 326 of the
Act, while section 272A has commenced,
subsections (1)(a) and (b) do not take effect until the
day that is 6 months after the commencement date
(i.e. 28 September 2024), and subsection (1)(c) does
not take effect until the day that is 18 months after
the commencement date (i.e. 28 September 2025).
Moreover, under section 272A(3), the terms of a
contract of insurance, other arrangement or
indemnity will be void to the extent that it purports
to insure or indemnify a person for all or part of a
monetary penalty under the Act.
Conclusion
The Amending Act has also inserted section 272B
into the Act which applies to body corporates. If a
body corporate commits an offence against section
272A of the Act, each officer of the body corporate
is taken to have also committed the offence if:
Organisations should have policies and procedures
in place to ensure that they do not enter into a
contract or an arrangement that will insure them
against a monetary penalty under the Act. In
addition, organisations should ensure that relevant
staff are made aware of the new offences created
by sections 272A and 272B of the Act, and how
they can impact both the organisation as well as its
officers.
•
the officer authorised or permitted the body
corporate’s conduct which led to the offence; or
The update can be reviewed in the QLD - OH&S General Duties topic.
•
the officer was, directly or indirectly, knowingly
concerned in the body corporate’s conduct which
led to the offence.
For more information please contact our team
on 1300 862 667 or visit our website
www.lawcompliance.com.au
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