1.
L E G A L P R O C E S S E S A N D W O R K
Workplace Law
1

2.
Workplace
practices and
regulations
• Have you ever heard of someone not getting a
job because they were: too old, young, short?
• What about people being bullied at work?
• If you are bullied at school, who do you tell?
• If a chair at school was broken and unsafe,
what would you do about it?
2

3.
Workplace safety
3
 Queensland workplaces must meet the requirements
of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
 This law sets guidelines for safety in the workplace to
protect people in a workplace from:
 Injury
 Illness
 Death

4.
Employers Employees
 Provide a safe system of work
 Provide and maintain safety of
machinery, tools, equipment
and substances
 Provide information, training
and supervision for employees’
safety
 Train managers and
supervisors to ensure they
provide for the safety of
employees
 Comply with safety instructions
 Use personal protective
equipment (PPE) provided by
employer
 Take part in workplace training
provided by employer
 Must not deliberately misuse
safety equipment
 Must not deliberately endanger
others
 Must not deliberately injure
themselves
4
Responsibilities under the law

5.
Case Study
Failing to comply with
safety rules at work can
have serious
consequences. Read
the article opposite.
Why was this a safety
issue?
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6.
Taking safety seriously
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Did You Know?
 More than 500 workers
are killed in work-related
accidents each year
 Hundreds more workers
die each year due to
work-related illness
 Thousands of workers
are injured each year
while performing their
duties at work
 In your notebook, list as
many school safety rules
as you can think of
 Why do you think the
school enforces these
rules?
 Discuss your responses
with the class

7.
Homework
7
 Speak to someone in
your household who has
a job. Ask them about
some of the safety rules
in their workplace. Ask
them what they think
would happen if these
rules were not in place.
Record the responses in
your notebook.

8.
Hazard Risk
 Something with the
potential to cause harm
 The likelihood of injury
occurring as a result of
a hazard
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Identifying danger

9.
Types of
hazards in the
workplace
Physical – dangers
or risks associated
with physical items
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10.
Types of
hazards in the
workplace
Biological –
environmental
dangers such as
fumes, cleaning
fluids or pollution
10

11.
Types of
hazards in the
workplace
Psychological –
conditions that
affect a person’s
physical or mental
health
11

12.
Hazards in the Workplace
12
Physical
Psychological
Biological

13.
Hazards and
Risks
Create the table to the
right.
Look at the image on
the next slide and
identify:
• What is the hazard
and the type? (find
10)
• Why is it
dangerous?
• Rate the risk as
highly likely,
possible or unlikely
Identified
hazard
Why it is a
danger
Risk of injury
occurring
Eg.
Missing fire
extinguisher
(physical)
Eg.
In a fire,
nothing to put it
out
Eg.
Highly likely (if
there is a fire)
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14.
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15.
Questions
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1. True or False:
a) A hazard is only dangerous once it is identified
b) Poor lighting is a psychological hazard
c) The physical design of a workplace could be the cause of
potential hazards
2. What is the difference between physical,
psychological and biological hazards?
3. What is the legislation in Qld which applies to
ensuring there is a safe work environment?

16.
Compensation Claims
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 Compensation:
 Something awarded to someone in recognition of injury, loss
or damage
 In workplaces, compensation can be awarded to some for
suffering an injury or illness because of their work, or
 To family because of the death of a family member due to the
deceased’s work

17.
 Workers’ compensation legislation tries to achieve a
balance between several interests:
 An employee’s interest in being compensated for injuries
suffered at work
 The employer’s right to run a business profitably and not be
over-burdened by the costs of compensating workers for
injuries

18.
 Legislation over the years has tried to balance these
two interest in making provision for issues such as:
a) In what circumstances a worker is entitled to workers’
compensation
b) How much they are entitled to
c) How much an employer should pay for the cost of
employees having accidents

19.
 Current legislation in Queensland in Workers’
Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld)
 Under this, employers pay an insurance premium to
WorkCover (unless they are self-insured), which acts
as an insurance company for businesses in relation
to accidents at work

20.
$
Premiums
$
Claim
Employer
Employee
WorkCover acts as an insurance
company for business in relation to
accidents at work

21.
 The insurance premium is worked out by multiplying
a premium rate by the employer’s payroll figure
 The premium is based on the employer’s claim
history

22.
 There are four conditions to obtaining compensation
from WorkCover
1. The person is a ‘worker’
a) Section 11 and schedule 2 of the Act defines who is classed
as a worker
2. There must be an event resulting in injury
a) Section 31 of the 2003 Act defines an ‘event’ broadly to be
anything resulting in injury, including an injury that
develops later
Entitlement to compensation from
WorkCover

23.
3. There must be an injury
a) Section 32 defines an injury
to be a personal injury that
arises out of, or in the course
of, employment is a
significant contributing factor
to the injury
4. The injury must arise out of, or in
the course of, employment
a) ‘In the course of employment’
means that the employee is:
a) At the workplace working
for the business
b) Away from the workplace
on work-related business
c) Temporarily absent from
the workplace during
lunch or another normal
break

24.
 There are various types of injury for which WorkCover will pay
compensation
 Partial incapacity
 Worker has restricted ability to work again
 Permanent injury
 Permanent loss or use of part of the body or senses, such as the loss of
a finger
 Compensation is worked out the same as for total incapacity, except a
percentage reduction is made according to what percentage of
functions the worker can still perform – eg. If a person is incapacitated
to the extent of 20%, they would receive 20% of what a totally
incapacitated person would receive
Amount of Compensation
paid by WorkCover

25.
 Total incapacity
 Injury that means the
worker will not be able to
work again, such as paralysis
 Compensation depends on
three things: worker’s
average earnings for the past
12 months, average wage of
all workers and the extent of
the impairment
 Death
 WorkCover must pay
reasonable costs of any
medical treatment the
worker received and
reasonable funeral costs

26.
 As a general rule, the maximum compensation
payable for an injury is $200,000
 This can be increased if:
 The injury is one that takes time to develop but is terminal –
maximum $200,000 additional payment (s128B)
 The worker’s work related impairment is at least 50% -
maximum $218,400 additional payment (s192)