Published: 23 September 2013
Category: Industry News
In January 2014 amendments are scheduled to commence that will align the Electrical Safety Act 2002 with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to give a consistent approach to the regulation of these matters in Queensland.
Some of the proposed changes include:
- the term 'person conducting business or undertaking' (PCBU) will replace 'employer' and 'self-employed person'
- the term 'electrical safety duty' will replace 'electrical safety obligation'
- three tiers of offences will be introduced – reckless conduct (category 1), failure to comply with an electrical safety duty (risk of death or serious injury or illness) (category 2), and failure to comply with an electrical safety duty (category 3)
- a new enforcement measure will be introduced - a non-disturbance notice - which may be issued to a person with management or control of a workplace by an inspector as part of an incident investigation. The notice would require a person to preserve the site for up to seven days and would include any measures that need to be taken to preserve the site.
More information about these amendments will be published on our website over the coming months.