Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) REGULATIONS(AMENDMENT) 1992 NO. 244

Statutory Rules 1992 No. 244

(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industrial Relations)

Occupational Health and Safely (Commonwealth Employment Act 1991

Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 82 of the Occupational Health and Safe (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 (the OHS Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Section 16 of the OHS Act provides that the Act, other than Parts 1 and 2 and section 82, shall apply to an employee who ordinarily performs his or her work at a particular place, not being Commonwealth premises, only if the regulations so provide, and subject to such modifications and adaptations as are set out in the regulations.

A significant number of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) public servants are transitional staff under section 3 of the A.C.T. Self-Government (Consequential Provisions) Act 1988 (the CP Act) and are, by virtue of subsection 21 (1) of the CP Act, employed under the Public Service Act 1922.

Transitional staff are, therefore, also employees for the purposes of section 9 of the OHS Act and are currently covered by Parts 1 and 2 and section 82 of the OHS Act, but because they work in premises owned or occupied by the Australian Capital Territory Executive, and not the Commonwealth, regulations are required to ensure that they are fully covered by the Act . The proposed regulations contain some minor modifications of the OHS Act as it will apply to transitional staff.

Details of the regulations are as follows.

Regulation 3 inserts a new regulation 38, which applies the OHS Act, as modified by Schedule 4 of the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Regulations, to employees who are members of the transitional staff.

Regulation 4 adds Schedule 4, which contains the modifications of the OHS Act which apply in relation to members of the transitional staff. The only modification of substance, contained paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Schedule, provides for reports (required by sections 65 and 66 of the OHS Act) to be made to the Chief Minister of the ACT as well as to the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations.