If Queensland (Qld) businesses have not reframed their approach to sexual harassment prevention as a safety matter, now is the time to connect their HR professionals with their work health and safety (WHS) staff to ensure compliance with an upcoming obligation. Sexual harassment is a recognized safety issue, and for businesses to comply with the new obligation to have a sexual harassment prevention plan, they must view the matter through an HR and WHS lens.
Published in September on the day it partially came into effect, the new Work Health and Safety (Sexual Harassment) Amendment Regulation 2024 (the “regulation”) has been released by the Queensland government. The regulation requires businesses to have a sexual harassment prevention plan by March 2025.
Although brief, the regulation introduces new obligations for all people conducting a business or undertaking in Queensland. The sexual harassment prevention plan may fall into the HR sphere, but it will also require collaboration with—and some heavy lifting from—organizations’ WHS functions and leaders. These individuals are likely officers with due diligence obligations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (the “WHS Act”).
As of Sept. 1, 2024, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) in Queensland must manage the risk to workplace health and safety posed by sexual harassment and sex- or gender-based harassment. While this obligation already exists under federal legislation, the new...
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