Work Health & Safety Regulation in Australia

This book critically analyses the Model Work Health and Safety Bill, which is the pivotal legal instrument upon which the harmonisation of work health and safety regulation in Australia is based.

This Model Act has already been adopted from 1 January 2012 in some Australian jurisdictions a€“ the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Queensland and the two territories a€“ and is the culmination of a long process which gained renewed impetus with a National Review of Model Occupational Health and Safety Laws commissioned by the Federal Government on behalf of all Australian governments in April 2008.

The book explains the origins of the Model Act, analyses its provisions, outlines practical issues, including potential difficulties, in their application and makes suggestions for further debate to develop the harmonised provisions. It explores the potential of the harmonised health and safety laws and assesses their adequacy to guide us through the challenges of the next century.

Richard Johnstone is a Professor in the Griffith Law School. He is also currently an Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University, an Honorary Professor in Department of Ageing, Work and Health at the University of Sydney, and an Associate Member of the Centre for Employment
and Labour Relations Law at the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Richard's academic interests are in regulation (particularly work health and safety regulation), socio-legal research, labour law and legal education.
He has authored, co-authored or edited seventeen books, in work health and safety regulation, legal education, labour law and legal theory. His books include Occupational Health and Safety Law and Policy, (1st ed 1997 and 2nd ed 2004), Occupational Health and Safety, Courts and Crime (2003); Regulating Workplace Safety: Systems and Sanctions (with N Gunningham, 1999); and Regulating Workplace Risks: A Comparative Study of Inspection Regimes in Times of Change, (2011 with D Walters, K Frick, M Quinlan, G Baril-Gingras and A ThAcbaud-Mony).