Commonwealth legislation

Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 - Notice of Approval (Notice No. H1 of 1994)

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This notice gives legal force to two workplace safety codes for Commonwealth (federal government) employees.

What it does:

Formally approves two safety standards under the Occupational Health and Safety Act:
1. Noise Management and Hearing Protection – rules for managing loud workplaces and protecting workers from hearing damage
2. Equipment Operation Competency – safety standards for operating loadshifting machinery (like forklifts) and other specified equipment

Who it affects: Commonwealth employers and employees – essentially federal government departments and agencies.

Why it matters: Codes of practice are not automatically law when published. This notice "approves" them under the Act, making them legally binding requirements. Employers must follow these codes or risk breaching workplace safety obligations. The notice also clarifies that any documents referenced within these codes are incorporated as they currently exist ("as in force"), and that the standards apply across all Commonwealth employment generally.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 - Notice of Approval (Notice No. H1 of 1994).

Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 - Notice of Approval (Notice No. H1 of 1994)

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYMENT) ACT 1991

NOTICE OF APPROVAL

Notice No H1 of 1994

I, Gary Thomas Johns, Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations under sub-section 70 (5) of the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 (in this notice referred to as “the Act”), on and from the date of publication of this Notice in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, hereby approve the following matter:

For the purposes of subsection 70(2) of the Act, the following codes of practice are approved:

(a) Code of Practice for Noise Management and Protection of Hearing at Work [NOHSC: 2009 (1993)], and

(b) Guidelines for Occupational Health and Safety Competency Standards for the Operation of Loadshifting Equipment and Other Types of Specified Equipment [NOHSC:7019(1992)].

For the purposes of subsection 70(3) of the Act, any document other than a NOHSC standard or code, incorporated in the Codes of Practice at paragraph 1, be incorporated “as in force”.
For the purposes of subsection 70(4)(a) of the Act, the codes of practice approved in paragraph 1 is to apply generally.

(signed)

Gary Johns

Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations

14 December 1994

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 - Notice of Approval (Notice No. H1 of 1994)