Occupational Health and Safety Law will provide students with an understanding of the legal regulation of workplace injuries, especially the employer's common-law duty to maintain a safe workplace and the employer's obligations under occupational health and safety statutes. The course will consider the problem of work-related injuries in the workplace, and the nature of workplace accidents. The course will consider briefly the history of workplace safety regulation, the failure of the common law to reduce accidents in the workplace and the Robens reforms on which modern safety laws are based. The focus of the course will then shift to an examination of statutory regimes governing occupational health and safety law in Australia. The focus of the course will be on the New South Wales statute, but significant differences between the New South Wales statute and those existing in the other States and Territories will also be highlighted. Importantly, the course will also consider the proposals to harmonise Australia's nine separate occupational health and safety jurisdictions, and will provide students with the opportunity to be completely up-to-date with these important changes.

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• explain and evaluate the causes of workplace accidents;
• critically evaluate the functions, interests and limitations of the current scheme for regulating occupational health and safety law in Australia;
• demonstrate familiarity with the main provisions of the occupational health and safety legislation studied; and
• critically analyse proposals to harmonise national occupational health and safety laws.

It is anticipated that the final assessment will comprise of the following:

• class presentations on selected extracts from materials (15%);
• class participation (10%);
• two on-line quizzes (10% each); and
• research paper of 3000 words (55%).

The workload for this course will comprise:

• 36 contact hours; and
• approximately 78 hours preparation.

None

Torts LAWS1203 and Contracts LAWS1204
Completed or completing five LAWS courses at 1000 level

Please refer to LAWS2235 course home page