Work Safety Group public notices

The ACT has approved a new code of practice that provides practical guidance to assist workplaces in meeting existing duties under work health and safety laws to manage extreme heat and cold risks in the working environment.

The Managing the Risks Associated with Extreme Temperatures Code of Practice comes into effect on 14 November 2025.

The Managing the risks associated with extreme temperatures factsheet [PDF 227KB] has more information about the new code.

Safe design and structure code of practice.*
*This public notice has been amended on 1 October 2025 for notice of the approved updated safe designs code.

The ACT Government has updated 7 work health and safety (WHS) codes of practice approved in the ACT.

The updates align with nationally agreed changes to model codes published by Safe Work Australia. The updated codes will help workplaces better identify and manage psychosocial hazards, such as stress, bullying, and poor working conditions.

The following codes of practice have been revised and will take effect from 5 November 2025:

• Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work
• How to manage work health and safety risks
• Confined spaces
• Managing the work environment and facilities
• Managing the risks of plant in the workplace
• Construction work
• Safe design and structures

Updates to the code of practice for managing the work environment and facilities also include clearer guidance on how to manage poor air quality risks at work.

You can refer to the updated WHS codes of practice infographic [PDF 173 KB].

For more information you can visit WorkSafe ACT.

The revised ACT Tower Crane Code of Practice (Code) updates the ACT’s existing Code to locally implement the model Code of Practice: Tower Cranes (Published by Safe Work Australia, 19 June 2023).

Codes provide practical guidance on how to achieve the standards of work health and safety required under the ACT WHS laws, and effective ways to identify and manage risks.

Updates to the Code have not changed existing standards in meeting WHS duties and obligations. Specific ACT guidance relating to high/low lifts and first-aid boxes has also been retained.

The revised Code has been prepared in consultation with the ACT Work Health and Safety Council.

You can find more information in the Tower Crane Code of Practice infographic [PDF 170 KB].

The Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety has approved the new Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment Code of Practice which commences on 11 November 2024.

The Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment Code of Practice is based on the nationally agreed model code of practice and builds on the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice. Implementing the Code also addresses a recommendation of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report.

The new Code assists persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) in meeting their work health and safety duties and obligations on how to manage risks arising from sexual and gender-based harassment at work.

The ACT has also decided to revoke the Preventing and Responding to Bullying and Harassment Code of Practice acknowledging that up to date and improved guidance for PCBUs on how to manage these duties is now found in the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice.

You can find more information in the sexual and gender based harassment infographic [PDF 411KB].

The ACT has recently updated the Formwork Code of Practice to better assist PCBUs in meeting their WHS duties and obligations in the Territory. The code of practice has been updated in the ACT to include up to date guidance on ensuring fall protection equipment is used, consultation is undertaken with designers/contractors involved in the construction work and certification that formwork is suitable for other trades to commence.

Further information is available in the factsheet [PDF 132KB].

The approved Code will commence in the ACT on 8 May 2024.

The ACT has recently updated the Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice to better assist PCBUs in meeting their WHS duties and obligations in the Territory. The code of practice has been updated in the ACT to include guidance on preventing vehicle roll-aways, including parking on a level surface where possible and using wheel chocks following revisions made to the related nationally agreed model Code. The approved Code will commence in the ACT on 10 May 2024.

Two codes of practice have recently been updated in the ACT that will better assist PCBUs in meeting their WHS duties and obligations in the Territory:

• The Sex Work Code of Practice has been revised to provide updated and current information to PCBUs on how to meet their safety obligations in the sex work sector. See the new Sex Work Code of Practice infographic [PDF 243KB] for distribution amongst your networks and members. The updated code will commence on 5 February 2024.
• The Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination Code of Practice has also been updated and approved in the ACT to adopt nationally agreed adjustments to Appendix D of the code to better support PCBUs in implementing appropriate consultation arrangements to meet work health and safety requirements. The updated code will commence on 23 October 2023.

The Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety has approved the ACT Managing the Risks of Airborne Crystalline Silica (Silica Dust) in the Workplace Code of Practice.

The Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety has approved the ACT Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice and related amendments to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. Read Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work infographic [PDF 411 KB] for more information.

The Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety has approved the following revised work health and safety codes of practice for operation in the ACT that adopt technical revisions for the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, seventh revised edition (GHS 7):

• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace
• How to Safely Remove Asbestos
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work
• Confined Spaces
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace
• Preparation of Safety Data Sheets for Hazardous Chemicals
• Welding Processes
• Abrasive Blasting
• Spray Painting and Powder Coating

More information about the GHS 7 is available on the WorkSafe ACT website and Safe Work Australia website.

The Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety has approved two new codes of practice for operation in the ACT, the:

• Work Health and Safety Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination Code of Practice which adopts locally the recently updated Safe Work Australia published model Code of Practice - nationally agreed updates to the Code relate to recommendations arising out of the 2018 independent review of the model WHS laws by Ms Marie Boland for stronger, clearer guidance for persons conducting a business or undertaking in meeting their WHS consultation obligations; and
• Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice which adopts locally the recently updated Safe Work Australia published model Code of Practice to include work health and safety requirements relating to quad bike safety.