HANDS OFF
OUR SAFETY
The LNP is coming for your safety.
Every Queensland worker has the right to return home healthy and safe. But David Crisafulli and the LNP are preparing to tear up the laws that protect us on the job.
We’ve fought for decades to ensure that “safety first” isn’t just a slogan, it’s the law. If these changes go through, we are looking at more accidents, more injuries, and more workplace deaths.
- WEAKENING laws that prevent workplace fatalities.
- CHANGING your rights to stop work in unsafe conditions.
- STRIPPING protection against deadly silica dust.
We are calling on all union members, workers, and families to stand together. Tell the LNP: Our lives are not negotiable. Hands off our health and safety laws.
Know Your Rights
Queensland's WHS laws provide strong protections for workers. Here are the key rights you should be aware of.
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), your employer (PCBU) must eliminate risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. If risks cannot be eliminated, they must be minimised. This includes providing safe machinery, safe systems of work, and proper training.
Section 84 of the WHS Act gives you the right to cease work if you have a reasonable concern that carrying out the work would expose you to a serious risk to your health or safety, emanating from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard. You must notify your employer as soon as possible and be available for other safe duties.
Your employer must consult with you when identifying hazards, assessing risks, and making decisions about ways to eliminate or minimise those risks. Consultation involves sharing information, giving you a reasonable opportunity to express your views, and taking those views into account.
If PPE is required to minimise a risk, your employer must provide it to you (unless you are a genuine independent contractor who provides your own). They must also ensure it fits, is maintained, and provide training on how to use it. You have a duty to use the PPE provided.
HSRs have specific powers under the WHS Act, including inspecting the workplace, investigating complaints, and in some cases, issuing provisional improvement notices (PINs) or directing unsafe work to cease. You can ask your employer to facilitate the election of an HSR.
In Queensland, if you suffer a work-related injury or illness, you may be entitled to compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, and rehabilitation costs. You should report the injury to your employer immediately and see a doctor to get a work capacity certificate.