Reminder to all that the Sherm Website and the Sherm YouTube Channel have videos on each of the modules. The YouTube Videos that can be access HERE, can be linked to in your Training Master. If you or a new member of staff need some training, please access these videos. If one on one training is required, please book a meeting through HERE.
Legislative Changes
Staying Ahead: Key Legislative Changes Impacting Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations in Queensland and New South Wales. Over the past three months, these two states have introduced legislative updates relevant to work health and safety (WHS), industrial relations, and workers’ compensation. These developments underscore the growing controls on business operations and activities. There is also a new code of practice introduced by the Commonwealth.
Here’s a summary of the key changes:
⚖️ WHS Legislative Updates – March to June 2024 (QLD, NSW & Commonwealth)
Queensland: Work Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024
Queensland has enacted significant reforms to align with national WHS standards:
- Ban on Insurance for WHS Penalties
It is now unlawful to provide, purchase, or benefit from insurance or indemnity arrangements that cover WHS fines, reinforcing personal and organisational accountability. - Extended Prosecution Timeframes
Requests to prosecute Category 1 or 2 offences can now be made up to 18 months after an incident—an increase from the previous 12-month limit. Additionally, prosecutions may be requested within 6 months of a coroner’s report, offering greater recourse following serious events. - Enhanced Rights for HSRs and Union Access
The Act clarifies that Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) must not be delayed or restricted by excessive entry requirements. It also reinforces that union right-of-entry cannot be unreasonably limited when addressing WHS concerns.
New South Wales: Work Health and Safety Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Act 2024
From 16 September 2024, NSW will introduce Industrial Manslaughter as a criminal offence under WHS law:
- Offence Definition
A PCBU (or officer) who causes a death through gross negligence and fails in their WHS duties may be charged with industrial manslaughter. - Penalties
Maximum penalties include 25 years imprisonment for individuals and $20 million fines for body corporates—representing one of the most serious legal sanctions for workplace safety breaches.
Commonwealth: New Code of Practice on Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment (March 2025)
In alignment with Respect@Work reforms, the Commonwealth has released a new Code of Practice designed to address psychosocial risks and promote respectful workplaces:
- Mandatory Prevention Requirements
Employers must take proactive steps to eliminate or minimise risks of sexual and gender-based harassment. - Inclusion of Psychosocial Hazards
Harassment is now clearly recognised as a psychosocial hazard under the WHS framework, requiring formal risk assessment and control measures. - Compliance Expectation
This Code sets a minimum compliance benchmark for all Australian businesses operating under federal jurisdiction and may influence state-based standards moving forward.
🔍 Sherm clients are encouraged to review internal policies, insurance arrangements, and HSR protocols to ensure compliance with these new legislative requirements. For support with implementation or system updates, please contact your Sherm Consultant or reach out via email.
Legal Partner!!
Alan Girle
AGLaw
M | 0410 451 846
E | [email protected]
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alangirle
Alan Girle has been a colleague of mine for over 15 years. First met during my times with Goodman Fielder and he has supported a number of clients when in need.
Alan is enrolled as solicitor and barrister on the High Court roll, the Supreme Court rolls in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the High Court roll in New Zealand. He practises throughout Australia under a Queensland Practising Certificate. Alan has been in practice since 1991 and more recently has been recognised in the consecutive years of 2014-2025 in the Doyle’s Guide as a “Leading Workplace Health & Safety Lawyer – Queensland”. He has also been selected by his peers in consecutive years for inclusion in the 2014-2025 Editions of The Best Lawyers in Australia in the “Occupational Health & Safety Law” category, these achievements confirm that Alan is one of the country’s best lawyers who can assist clients in defending and negotiating government-initiated prosecutions.
I recommend keeping Alan’s details on file, so should you need his services. The https://Sherm.com.au , https://Safetyforlife.com.au websites will be updated with Alan’s details in the unfortunate event you need a honest, reliable and very capable lawyer to represent you.
Sherm Improvements and Changes
Wasabi Cloud Storage Integration
To ensure ongoing security of the server, a high-level risk assessment was conducted with the Server Team and the Development Team determining out exposure to malware hacks and the likes. As our result of the risk assessment a decision was made to utilise Wasabi Cloud storage to that all files, attachments, images etc.. are uploaded, stored and retrieved to prevent exposure to our servers and our code.
Risk & Opportunity Register
- Tab for Approved Documents now links from Documentation > Approved Documents
- Tab for Attachments enables additional external documents, images / files to be uploaded.
Action: consider linking Approved Documents in the R&O Register. If you’ve not commenced this task, this is a great opportunity to do a review of risks and opportunities in your business operations and activities.
Meetings
- When Recording Agenda Items, Meeting Minutes, and other items, it is recommended to utilise the text box to list the agenda and write up the meeting minutes electronically. This way, upon releasing the meeting minutes, this will go directly via email to the attendees.
- Included a Release Minutes button which will send meeting minutes to Attendees.
Organisational Chart
Optimised and improved the chart screen. What do you think?
Plant Register
Increased the character count when in the description field and provided a character count to guide user to prevent error when saving record. Also ensured that error is not resulting when user has not document to attach. Thanks Shane (FLR)!!
Country and State
Expanded country selection that fetch in real time in preparation for growth in the business along with having stakeholders that are located internationally.
Contractor and Supplier Register
Site field has been made mandatory which means that if you want the contractor / supplier displaying for use across multiple sites, then ensure you update accordingly. This task could be incorporated into your Contractor and Supplier Management Procedure. Additionally, consider this as criteria in the Contractor / Supplier Internal Audit Program.
User News and Notifications
Added position dropdown in screen along with Site and Department to enable filtering of employees based upon their position. Don’t forget we have included ‘instruction’ so if you need to send directly to a worker, or group of workers. These notifications are great in terms of demonstrating the company as audit ready for communication, information, and instruction. Go wild!
Fixes Completed
- Risk Matrix Display – print report in Risk Module displaying correctly.
- Import Employee Issue – resolved issue of screen sticking
- Add Past Meeting – root caused identified that was throwing error resolved
- Add Issue – resolved issue in Mobile App
- Document Register – error upon Approving Document and uploading new version of document resolved – Improved the date selection to reduce error for Review Date which does not permit the selection of a date less than date the Date Updated – Document Review link fixed form email for user to access document review screen. Thanks Sean (FLR)!!
- Schedule Training – resolved the issues of email notifications not being sent when training and CAT is scheduled and the error message faced when clicking on the retake CAT test.
- Contractor Register – Resolved the issue of not being able to add Contractor Employee
- Issue Management – fix search filter “Issue Title” as it was not picking up singular search word
- Country and State – Expanded configuration for growth
- Plant Register / Risk Assessment – Risk Assessment Save and Submit button throwing error so this is resolved.
Plan Action Notification Mail – the Calendar Invite was displaying the incorrect time due to settings that is now resolved.
New Features in Progress
Mobile App
New feature with completion of an Offline CAT is for the verification of the participant to verify the assessment took part. This will include a notification to the participant to click on a verification button to confirm they have just undertaken an assessment. This will ensure that Offline Facilitated CATs are being completed in the flesh and not just behind a closed door. It is planned that the Participant can complete verification on mobile app as most assessments of this nature are completed during a task assessment. Once Participant has verified their attendance, the record in the CAT Register will be recorded as Competent.
Employee Performance Review
This is behind schedule due to upgrade of our servers and doing the patching post testing. This took much longer than expected, so will be able to jump back on that horse as well.
Chat Bot!
We are exploring the use of a Chat Bot to provide a human like online support. This feature is being commence by the team and significant input by myself will undoubtably make this tool user friendly and supportive. I’ll keep you posted on progress.
Love Sherm? Let Others Know!
Share Your Sherm Experience – Leave a Google Review! 🏆
Your feedback makes a difference! I would love to hear how Sherm has supported your business—whether it’s the ease of use, the mobile app’s convenience, or our dedicated support team.
⭐ Click HERE to leave a quick Google Review and share your experience with us.
Your insights help us grow so we can continue delivering the best service possible. Thanks for your support!
Sherm’s Referral Program – A Win-Win for Everyone! 🎉
Make sure you share with your team the Referral Program. This can be done through User News and Notifications and would really help us to continue our growth.
When a referral is successful, the referrer will receive a $200 electronic gift certificate delivered straight to their email and mobile phone.
In these challenging economic times, I’m excited to give back to those who support and recommend Sherm. After all, we all know referrals are the lifeblood of any business.
Finally….
It is important to keep your procedures current and up to date and that changes are communicated to your work groups. All the tools you need to demonstrate this are readily available to you. Go for it Sherminators! Streamline efficiencies and take a load off!
If you have any improvements to suggest, please send them through!
Stay happy, healthy, and free 😊
Best Regards,
The Sherm Team
