Productivity Commission

Performance benchmarking of Australian business regulation: Occupational health and safety

Research report

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Key Points

  • This study compares inter-jurisdictional differences in occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation in 2008-09 and its administration and enforcement and the costs they imposed on business. Such benchmarking provides information which can support current moves to establish a consistent regulatory approach to OHS across all jurisdictions.
  • Generally, OHS performance has been improving. National injury incidence rates have fallen almost 20 per cent between 2002-03 and 2007-08.
  • The core OHS Acts of all jurisdictions are all based on the principle of allocating duties of care to those most able to influence OHS outcomes and yet the Acts differ.
  • In addition, there are 70 industry or hazard-specific Acts which regulate OHS in some way. For states with separate mining regulations (New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia) compliance burdens on large mining companies are greater in Western Australia which makes limited use of performance and process-based regulation.
  • The burdens from jurisdictional differences in OHS regulation fall most heavily on businesses which operate in more than one state or territory.
  • Among regulations aimed at improving the culture of compliance, different requirements across jurisdictions for record keeping, training, and worker participation and representation result in differences in the burdens imposed on business.
  • Among regulations aimed at managing particular hazards, the different requirements across the jurisdictions with regard to asbestos, manual handling and falls result in differences in the burdens imposed on business.
  • Given the costs they impose, all jurisdictions give relatively less attention to psychosocial hazards than to physical hazards. All jurisdictions provide guidance material on various aspects of psychosocial health. Victoria and New South Wales provide harmonised guidance on bullying and on fatigue. Only Queensland and Western Australia provide a code of practice on bullying. Western Australia and South Australia are the only jurisdictions to have a code of practice on working hours, while Western Australia is the only jurisdiction to have a code that addresses occupational violence. Victoria and New South Wales pursue bullying the most vigorously in the courts.
  • Australian OHS regulators commonly use a cooperative, graduated approach to achieve compliance. They apply a risk-based approach to enforcement and generally seek to minimise adverse side effects on business.
  • There are significant differences among OHS regulators in: their level of resources; funding sources; availability and application of enforcement tools; appeal mechanisms; and transparency.

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