About

Who we are

WorkSafe Tasmania is a division of the Department of Justice.

We focus on improving workplace safety, health and return to work.

This is achieved by:

  • investigating workplace incidents
  • auditing workplaces for compliance with legislation
  • promoting safer and healthier workplaces and practices through practical guidance and education
  • promoting prompt and effective return to work through practical guidance and education
  • processing occupational licences, and more.

WorkSafe Tasmania also has a strong relationship with the WorkCover Tasmania Board, helping the Board fulfil its statutory functions in injury management, work health and safety, and workers compensation.

Our purpose

Advancing work health, safety and wellbeing in Tasmania

Our promise

Safe and Well, Every Day

Our approach

We engage to raise awareness

We educate to increase understanding

We enable to achieve behavioural change

We enforce when necessary

Our values

Accountability: We are consistent; always doing what we say

Inclusiveness: We work as one team and embrace diversity

Transparency: We communicate our intent and foster a culture of open communication

Integrity: We model open, honest and respectful behaviour and uphold the State Service Principles

The laws

WorkSafe Tasmania administers the laws that regulate:

Workplace relations

Construction Industry (Long Service) Act 1997

Industrial Relations Act 1984

Industrial Relations (Commonwealth Powers) Act 2009

Local Government (Building and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993 [Part 7]

Long Service Leave (Casual Wharf Employees) Act 1982

Long Service Leave (State Employees) Act 1994

Long Service Leave Act 1976

Shop Trading Hours Act 1984

Statutory Holidays Act 2000

Work health and safety

Dangerous Goods (Road and Rail Transport) Act 2010

Explosives Act 2012

Mines Work Health and Safety (Supplementary Requirements) Act 2012

Security-sensitive Dangerous Substances Act 2005

Work Health and Safety Act 2012

Work Health and Safety (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2012

Compensation schemes

Asbestos Related Diseases (Occupational Exposure) Compensation Act 2011

Workers' (Occupational Diseases) Relief Fund Act 1954

Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988

A full list is available on our Acts and Regulations page.

Our strategic plan and priorities

Our objective is healthier, safer and productive workplaces.

Our plan is to focus on:

  • Targeted harm reduction – reducing harm in Tasmanian workplaces
  • Culture and capability – responding to current and emerging WHS issues
  • Regulatory frameworks – ensuring regulatory frameworks are contemporary and effective
  • Exemplar regulator – striving for excellence as a regulator

To find out more about our strategies and priorities please refer to our:

WorkSafe Tasmania also supports the functions of the WorkCover Tasmania Board.

We recognise some of the publications on this web page may not meet web accessibility standards. Please contact us if you need to request the publication in an alternative format.

Our service charter

This service charter is WorkSafe Tasmania’s commitment to the service response a client can expect when notifying us of incidents, lodging a complaint, or seeking a response to a work health and safety issue (otherwise referred to here as an intervention request).

The charter covers:

  • our role and principles for responding to intervention requests
  • the level of service that a client can expect to receive
  • what WorkSafe Tasmania expects of a client during advice of an event.

Our role and principles for responding to intervention requests

WorkSafe Tasmania is committed to the prevention of death, injury, illness and disease arising from work activities in all Tasmanian workplaces.

Work health and safety laws provide us with a range of functions such as:

  • monitoring and securing compliance
  • providing advice and information to duty holders and the community
  • fostering co-operative, consultative relationships between duty holders, the persons to whom they owe duties and their representatives
  • sharing information with other regulators
  • conducting and defending proceedings under the laws we administer.

The National Work Health and Safety Compliance and Enforcement Policy sets out the principles that are to be applied to all compliance and enforcement actions.

WorkSafe Tasmania has an established approach for triaging incident notifications and requests for a responding to work health and safety issues that apply the principles in the following way:

  • consistency – provide sufficient detail to enable similar approaches to be taken in similar circumstances
  • constructiveness – build capability of complainants and duty holders to address issues in the workplace before they are escalated to the regulator
  • transparency – public accessibility to the factors used to determine the triaging responses
  • accountability – triaging decision-making criteria available in the event of a challenge to the Regulator on triaging actions taken
  • proportionality – criteria is balanced to ensure the triaging response is proportionate to the potential seriousness of the alleged conduct
  • responsiveness – triaging responses take account of the known circumstances of the duty holder or workplace
  • targeted – a triaging response, in terms of the investment of resources, is focussed on the areas perceived highest risk or on published strategic enforcement priorities

What to expect from us

Clients of WorkSafe Tasmania can expect the following in response to their enquiry:

  • professional, quality and timely delivery of WorkSafe Tasmania’s services
  • staff who identify themselves and give courteous and respectful consideration of views
  • timely, understandable and accurate advice and information
  • information about client’s rights, obligations and entitlements
  • respect for the client’s privacy and appropriate treatment of their confidential information
  • explanation of how decisions have been made and information about their rights to have decisions reviewed, where relevant
  • advice about other relevant agencies that can assist where WorkSafe Tasmania does not provide the services requested or the issues do not fall within our jurisdiction.

WorkSafe Tasmania provides feedback to clients on actions taken in response to incidents. This feedback will be provided where the client has specifically requested it. The extent of feedback provided will depend on the relationship of the client with the incident. Feedback may be provided during an inspector’s response to an incident or by staff of our contact centre. All feedback will be provided in a professional and fair manner.

Information on inspection work is available on our page about Inspectors.

What we expect from you

WorkSafe Tasmania seeks the support and co-operation of its clients in achieving our service standards, where it is expected that clients will:

  • provide timely, complete and accurate information
  • treat WorkSafe Tasmania staff with courtesy and respect
  • be honest and fair in their dealings with WorkSafe Tasmania
  • have taken constructive steps, where reasonably practicable, to have work health and safety issues resolved at the workplace before raising them with WorkSafe Tasmania
  • accept that WorkSafe Tasmania may not be able to progress a request to respond to a work health and safety issue if insufficient information has been provided and the regulator is unable to obtain sufficient information to progress the request. This can occur when a person submits a request anonymously and WorkSafe Tasmania does not receive enough information in relation to the request and is unable to contact the person for further information
  • accept that WorkSafe Tasmania will respect a client’s request for their identity not to be disclosed but that identity may be apparent to the parties of the workplace due to the nature of the enquiries that must be made by WorkSafe Tasmania to respond
  • advise WorkSafe Tasmania if you are seeking feedback on any actions taken
  • provide appropriate feedback on WorkSafe Tasmania’s service delivery.