Amendments to the Work Health and Safety Regulations

Amendments have been made to the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011, more specifically the regulations dealing with Lead and Diving.

Diving regulation changes

Amendments have been made to clarify the requirements for training for general diving work and correct drafting errors that have contributed to ambiguity around the required competencies.

References to Australian Standards for diving have been amended to:

• remove reference to AS/NZS 4005.2:2000 – Training and certification of recreational divers; and
• replace references to AS/NZS 2299.1:2007 – Occupational diving operations – Standard operational practice with the 2015 version.

The diving regulation amendments are in effect from 21 August 2019.

A full description of these changes can be found in the Information bulletin - Amendments to the diving work regulations.

Lead regulation changes

The following amendments have been made to the regulations dealing with Lead:

• the definition of lead risk work is changed;
• there is a reduction in blood lead levels that trigger increased frequency of biological monitoring;
• there is a reduction in the blood lead levels that trigger immediate removal of workers from carrying out lead risk work;
• there is a reduction in the blood lead levels that allow a worker to be returned to carrying out lead risk work after removal.

A transition period is in place and the lead regulation amendments do not come into effect until 1 July 2021.

A full description of these changes can be found in the Information bulletin - Amendments to blood lead removal levels.