Effective from 1 March 2025, a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (“PCBU”) in Queensland, must implement a written plan (prevention plan) after conducting staff consultation.
The requirement to have a written Prevention Plan was introduced under the Work Health and Safety (Sexual Harassment) Amendment Regulation 2024 (Regulation).
The changes seek to ensure PCBUs in Queensland are implementing a more proactive approach to eliminating the risks of sexual harassment and gender-based harassment occurring in their workplaces, rather than just responding to incidents after they occur.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has published useful resources including a guide, a template Prevention Plan and factsheet on in its website. Sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment | WorkSafe.qld.gov.au
The guide states that a Prevention Plan should:
- Be in writing and state each risk.
- Identify control measures to manage each risk.
- Identify the matters were considered in determining the control measures
- Describe the consultation undertaken with its workers to develop the plan and subsequently make it available and accessible to them.
- Set out the reporting procedure for dealing with incidents.
A Prevention Plan must be reviewed as soon as practicable;
- after a report of an incident of sexual harassment or sex or gender-based harassment at work is made; or
- as soon as practicable after a Health and Safety officer or Committee representative ask for the plan to be reviewed; or
- otherwise every three years.
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