In case you didn’t realise, as of 1st March 2025, changes to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) mean all employers across QLD must have a written Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan in place that is accessible to all workers, so here’s a very quick explanation of the practical steps you need to take to comply. And if you are outside QLD then listen up because this change will be coming your way soon and it’s great to get on the front foot.
The Prevention Plan must do 4 things:
1. State each identified risk of a team member or someone visiting your business being sexually harassed. These are risks that are specific to your workplace or industry and must consider the characteristics of your workers, your workplace and the work environment
2. Identify the control measures you have in place, or are going to put in place, to manage each risk you identified
3. Set out your internal procedure for dealing with reports of unsafe conduct.
4. Describe the consultation you undertook to identify these risks and the control measures
Our recommendation for you:
So there are 4 things you need to do now to ensure you’re compliant:
1. Schedule a discussion between at least 2 relevant people in your business (eg. you, your WHS Manager, WHS officer) who can brainstorm on those first 3 steps:
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- a. List the risks of sexual harassment in your workplace
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- b. The control measures you have or will put in place
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- c. Document your internal procedure for dealing with reports of unsafe conduct.
2. Insert this information in to your Sexual Harassment policy and procedure with this information
3. Communicate the change to the policy to all employees – email out the updated policy to all staff, put it on the staff noticeboard
4. Implement control measures not yet implemented
What are the risks for non-compliance?
Should your business face an employee complaint or investigation by the Regulator or the Australian/Queensland Human Rights Commission, failure to comply with the positive and the requirement to have a sexual harassment prevention plan will work against the business. This would likely result in a higher award of penalties, should such actions and omission be proven in Court. The Work Health and Safety regulator can also issue on-the-spot fines of $9,679 , improvement notices, and prohibition notices (amongst others) for failing to failing to have a plan, and failing to review the plan every 3 years
Control Measures
When it comes to Control Measures – one of the best ways to highlight to your team members that you have a zero tolerance on Sexual Harassment is to run annual sexual harassment training.
Sexual Harassment & Bystander Training
If you are wanting any training, we have online sexual harassment and bystander training your staff can undertake at $249 per person. It is simply a link that would be sent out to each individual and we can then run a report for you showing completions and this can then be an annual training for everyone.
So the days of relying on individual workers to report harassment once harm has occurred are now well and truly gone and it’s now the law to implement proactive initiatives that actively prevent, eliminate or minimise these risks. And yes whilst it may feel like an extra administrative burden on you, sexual harassment and sex or gender-based harassment are clearly workplace hazards that can cause significant psychological and physical harm to workers in your business.
So that’s potentially a lot to take in, so please let me know if you’d like a hand or just a call to talk it through.
Otherwise, have a great month!!
HR Tactics – HR Consultants Brisbane – Outsourced HR
This information was provided with the intention of helping you find more clarity, confidence and peace of mind as you navigate your own journey as an employer. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you think someone else would enjoy it please feel free to share it on.
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