This article applies to all organisations in Queensland.

Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Qld)

On 28 March 2024, the Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Qld) (the Amending Act) amended the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (the Act) to make it an offence for an organisation to have insurance or other arrangements that will insure or indemnify them against liability for a monetary penalty under the Act.

Insurance or other indemnity against penalties

Section 272A(1) has been inserted into the Act to make it an offence for a person, without a reasonable excuse, to enter (section 272A(1)(a)), provide (section 272A(1)(b)) or take a benefit from (section 272A(1)(c)) a contract or arrangement that purports to insure or indemnify a person for liability for all or part of a monetary penalty under the Act.

Moreover, under section 272A(3), the terms of a contract of insurance, other arrangement or indemnity will be void to the extent that it purports to insure or indemnify a person for all or part of a monetary penalty under the Act.

The Amending Act has also inserted section 272B into the Act which applies to body corporates. If a body corporate commits an offence against section 272A of the Act, each officer of the body corporate is taken to have also committed the offence if:

• the officer authorised or permitted the body corporate’s conduct which led to the offence; or
• the officer was, directly or indirectly, knowingly concerned in the body corporate’s conduct which led to the offence.

The maximum penalty for breach of section 272A of the Act is 500 penalty units (currently, $96,155).

Subscribers should note, however, that pursuant to section 326 of the Act, while section 272A has commenced, subsections (1)(a) and (b) do not take effect until the day that is 6 months after the commencement date (i.e. 28 September 2024), and subsection (1)(c) does not take effect until the day that is 18 months after the commencement date (i.e. 28 September 2025).

Conclusion

Organisations should have policies and procedures in place to ensure that they do not enter into a contract or an arrangement that will insure them against a monetary penalty under the Act. In addition, organisations should ensure that relevant staff are made aware of the new offences created by sections 272A and 272B of the Act, and how they can impact both the organisation as well as its officers.