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Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - TABLE OF PROVISIONS
TABLE OF PROVISIONS PART 1 - PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title 2. Commencement 3. Objects 4. Saving of certain State and Territory laws 5. Interpretation 6. Act not to prejudice national security 7. Act not to prejudice Australia's defence 8. Act not to prejudice certain police operations 9. Employees 10. Commonwealth to act through employing authority 11. Extent to which Act binds the Crown 12. Functions conferred on Commission 13. Application of Act to external Territories etc. 14. Application of Act to workplaces controlled by contractors 15. Application of Act to employees working in non-Commonwealth premises PART 2 - OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Division 1 - General duties relating to occupational health and safety 16. Duties of employers in relation to their employees etc. 17. Duty of employers in relation to third parties 18. Duties of manufacturers in relation to plant and substances 19. Duties of suppliers in relation to plant and substances 20. Duties of person erecting or installing plant in a workplace 21. Duties of employees in relation to occupational health and safety 22. Reliance on information supplied or results of research Division 2 - Specific duties relating to occupational health and safety 23. Regulations relating to occupational health and safety PART 3 - WORKPLACE ARRANGEMENTS Division 1 - Health and safety representatives 24. Designated work groups 25. Health and safety representatives 26. Term of office 27. Training of health and safety representatives 28. Powers of health and safety representatives 29. Provisional improvement notices 30. Duties of employers in relation to health and safety representatives 31. Resignation etc. of health and safety representative 32. Disqualification of health and safety representatives 33. Deputy health and safety representatives Division 2 - Health and safety committees 34. Health and safety committees 35. Functions of health and safety committees 36. Duties of employers in relation to health and safety committees Division 3 - Emergency procedures 37. Action by health and safety representatives 38. Directions to perform other work PART 4 - ADVICE, INVESTIGATIONS AND INQUIRIES Division 1 - Advice 39. Commission may refer persons seeking advice to experts Division 2 - Investigations 40. Appointment of investigators 41. Investigations 42. Power of entry 43. Power to require assistance and information 44. Power to take possession of plant, take samples of substances etc. 45. Power to direct that workplace etc. not be disturbed 46. Power to issue prohibition notices 47. Power to issue improvement notices 48. Appeals 49. Liability of investigators 50. Notices not to be tampered with or removed 51. Arrangements with States for services of State officers Division 3 - Inquiries and reports 52. Application 53. Report of investigation 54. Power to obtain information and documents 55. Commission may conduct public inquiry 56. Power to summon witnesses 57. Failure of witness to attend 58. Power to administer oath or affirmation 59. Refusal to be sworn or to answer questions 60. Protection of members and witnesses 61. Contempt of Commission 62. Powers of Commission in relation to documents produced 63. Allowances to witnesses
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64. Witness not to be prejudiced in employment 65. Report to be given to Minister in certain circumstances 66. Report to be given to Minister of failures to comply with directions etc. 67. Delegation by Commission PART 5 - MISCELLANEOUS 68. Notification and reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences 69. Records of accidents and dangerous occurrences to be kept 70. Codes of practice 71. Use of codes of practice in proceedings 72. Interference etc. with equipment etc. 73. Employer not to levy employees etc. 74. Certain matters to be included in annual reports 75. Annual report of Commission 76. Employer not to dismiss etc. employees on certain grounds 77. Institution of prosecutions 78. Conduct of directors, servants and agents 79. Act not to give rise to other liabilities etc. 80. Effect of contravention of Act etc. on contracts of employment etc.
81. Circumstances preventing compliance with Act may be defence to prosecution 82. Regulations SCHEDULE GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ENTERPRISES OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - LONG TITLE
An Act to promote the occupational health and safety of persons employed by the Commonwealth and Commonwealth authorities, and for related purposes OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - PART 1 PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 1 Short title
(Assented to 6 March 1991) 1. This Act may be cited as the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991. (Minister's second reading speech made in- House of Representatives on 18 October 1990 Senate on 10 December 1990) OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 2 Commencement
2. (1) Sections 1 and 2 commence on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent. (2) Subject to subsection (3), the remaining provisions of this Act commence on a day or days to be fixed by Proclamation. (3) If a provision referred to in subsection (2) does not commence within the period of 6 months commencing on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, that provision commences on the first day after the end of that period. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 3 Objects
3. The objects of this Act are: (a) to secure the health, safety and welfare at work of employees of the Commonwealth and of Commonwealth authorities; and (b) to protect persons at or near workplaces from risks to health and safety arising out of the activities of such employees at work; and (c) to ensure that expert advice is available on occupational health and safety matters affecting employers, employees and contractors; and (d) to promote an occupational environment for such employees at work that is adapted to their needs relating to health and safety; and (e) to foster a co-operative consultative relationship between employers and employees on the health, safety and welfare of such employees at work. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 4 Saving of certain State and Territory laws
4. It is the intention of the Parliament that this Act is not to affect the operation of a law of a State or of a Territory that promotes the occupational health and safety of persons and is capable of operating, whether of its own force or as an applied provision within the meaning of the Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Act 1970, concurrently with this Act. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991 No. 30, 1991 - SECT 5 Interpretation
5. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears: "annual report" means the annual report (if any) of a Department or Commonwealth authority to the responsible Minister for the Department or authority relating to the activities, operations, business or affairs of the Department or authority; "annual report of the Commission" means the annual report of the Commission under section 63M of the Audit Act 1901 as applied by section 90 of the Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988; "chief executive officer", in relation to a Commonwealth authority, means the person (by whatever name called) who is responsible for the administration
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of the authority; "Commission" means the Commission for the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation of Commonwealth Employees established by section 68 of the Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988; "Commonwealth authority" means: (a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under a law of the Commonwealth or a law of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory or Norfolk Island); or (b) a body corporate: (i) that is incorporated under a law of the Commonwealth or a State or Territory; and (ii) in which the Commonwealth, or a body corporate referred to in paragraph (a), has a controlling interest; and (iii) that is not a body corporate that the Minister, by notice published in the Gazette, has declared not to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of this Act; "Commonwealth premises" means premises owned or occupied by the Commonwealth or by a Commonwealth authority; "contract" includes any arrangement or understanding; "contractor" means a natural person, other than a person who is employed by the Commonwealth or by a Commonwealth authority, who: (a) performs work on Commonwealth premises in connection with an undertaking being carried on by the Commonwealth, being work that is being performed, or that is connected with work that is being performed, under a contract entered into between the Commonwealth and that person or any other person (whether a natural person or not); or (b) performs work on Commonwealth premises in connection with an undertaking being carried on by a Commonwealth authority, being work that is being performed, or that is connected with work that is being performed, under a contract entered into between the authority and that person or any other person (whether a natural person or not); "controlling interest", in relation to a body corporate, means: (a) an interest in the body corporate that enables the person holding the interest to: (i) control the composition of the board of directors of the body corporate; or (ii) cast, or control the casting of, more than one-half of the maximum number of votes that might be cast at a general meeting of the body corporate; or (iii) control more than one-half of the issued share capital of the body corporate (excluding any part of that issued share capital that carries no right to participate beyond a specified amount in a distribution of either profits or capital); or (b) an interest in another body corporate that constitutes, under paragraph (a), a controlling interest in that other body corporate, being: (i) a body corporate that, under paragraph (a), has a controlling interest in the first-mentioned body corporate; or (ii) a body corporate that has such a controlling interest by another application or other applications of this paragraph; "dangerous occurrence" means an occurrence, at a workplace, that is declared by the regulations to be a dangerous occurrence for the purpose of this definition; "Department" means a body or instrumentality that is: (a) a Department within the meaning of the Public