As of the 1st of March 2025, Queensland PCBUs are required to have implemented a Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan. This is part of the Qld WHS Regulation’s requirements to manage psychosocial risk (as per Division 11 of the WHS Reg.) which includes the risk from sexual harassment or sex- or gender-based harassment.
Sexual harassment or sex- or gender-based harassment means the harassment of a person on the basis of their sex or gender, by unwelcome conduct of a demeaning nature, with the intention of offending or humiliating the person, or in circumstances where a reasonable person would have anticipated the person would be offended, humiliated or intimidated by the conduct. The harassment can be a one-off incident or repeated behaviour, and can be overt or subtle. The most serious acts, such as sexual assault, and may constitute criminal offences.
The new section 55H of the WHS Regulation requires that where a risk of sexual or sex- or gender-based harassment has been identified, and control measures are needed to minimise the risk, a Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan must be developed. While WHSQ provides the example of a sole trader not being exposed to the risk of sexual or sex- or gender-based harassment, in all likelihood, there would be very few other examples where there is not a potential for this risk to materialise. It would be more prevalent with ‘at-risk’ workers (e.g. new employees, younger employees or female workers where most of the workforce is male), and there are also challenges in managing this risk within customer and public-facing work environments.
The Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan must be in writing and expressed in a manner that is readily accessible and understandable to workers. It needs to state each of the identified risks and the controls measures to be implemented for these risks. Importantly, it needs to state the harassment related matters considered, the consultation undertaken, and the procedures implemented for dealing with reports of sexual harassment or gender-based harassment at work.
The Plan needs to define the procedure or process for reporting sexual harassment or sex- or gender-based harassment at work, how the report will be investigated, how the person who made the report will be informed of the results of the investigation, and how the matter may be referred to the issue / dispute resolution process. Current incident reporting and investigation processes may need to be strengthened or amended to account for this.
The PCBU must implement the Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan, and take reasonable steps to ensure workers are made aware of its contents. This means a communications process is also required, and the Plan would need to be integrated within employee induction processes so that new starters are also aware.
In the interests of continuous improvement, the legislation also includes that the PCBU must review the Sexual Harassment Prevention Plan after the reporting of a sexual harassment incident, or at a minimum of every 3 yrs (if not before).
Please contact QRMC for more information or assistance.
