Updates to work health and safety codes of practice

Seven Queensland work health and safety codes of practice have been updated following amendments made to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (WHS Regulation).

The amendments commenced on 1 September 2026 and include:

• Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice 2022
• Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work Code of Practice 2021
• Safe design of structures Code of Practice 2021
• How to manage work health and safety risks Code of Practice 2021
• Confined spaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the work environment and facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing risks of plant in the workplace Code of Practice 2021 - a minor technical variation has been made to Appendix B of the Managing risks of plant in the workplace Code of Practice 2021 to include passenger ropeways in the list of plant requiring design registration under Schedule 5, Part 1 of the WHS Regulation.

The updates clarify existing work health and safety requirements and provide additional guidance. They do not introduce any additional regulatory burden or requirements to the codes of practice beyond existing legislative provisions.

The reintroduction of audiometric testing requirements, which came into effect in 2025 undersection 58 of the WHS Regulation, has also been captured with the variations to the Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work Code of Practice 2021.

The variations bring the Queensland codes in line with changes made to the national model codes of practice to align with sexual harassment provisions and psychosocial risk regulations. The codes have also been updated to improve readability, ensure legislative consistency, and update any outdated references.

More information

Copies of the updated documents can be found at Codes of practice page.