Skip navigation

LAWS8311 Occupational Health and Safety Law

Offered By Law School
Academic Career Graduate Coursework
Course Subject Laws
Offered in LAWS8311 will not be offered in 2011
Unit Value 6 units
Course Description 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 workpace 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 and Commonwealth regimes, but significant differences between these two acts 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.
Learning Outcomes

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

  • understand 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.
Indicative Assessment

This is a preliminary statement on the proposed assessment.

Class presentations on selected extracts from materials - 15%

class participation - 10%

research paper of approximately 6,000 words - 75%

The information published on the Study at ANU 2011 website applies to the 2011 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2010 website.

Updated:   13 Nov 2015 / Responsible Officer:   The Registrar / Page Contact:   Student Business Solutions