Following the decriminalisation of sex work in Queensland, all sex workers and sex work businesses are covered by work health and safety legislation. The changes commenced on 2 August 2024 and mean that the same workplace health and safety laws that apply to all Queensland businesses, apply to sex work businesses and sex workers.
This includes the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, codes of practice and guidance documents.
WHS rights and responsibilities
A workplace is any place where work is carried out for a business or undertaking and includes any place where a worker goes or is likely to be, while at work. In sex work, this means any place where sex workers work.
The person with management or control of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, the means of entering and exiting the workplace and anything arising from the workplace are without risks to the health and safety of any person.
Sex Work – Work Health and Safety Guidance
The sex work – work health and safety guidance 2024 (PDF, 1.32 MB) has been developed to support businesses and workers to understand their workplace health and safety rights and duties. The guidance provides sex industry-specific information about workplace hazard management including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), how to manage psychosocial hazards and risks, guidance for working safely in a variety of environments and the reporting of incidents. The guidance is also available in Thai, Korean and Mandarin/Simplified Chinese.
Reporting WHS problems
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) regulates compliance.
Workplaces should encourage sex workers to report to them: injuries and fatalities; near misses; damaged or faulty equipment; housekeeping issues such as spills not being wiped up immediately; health and safety hazards and suggestions for improvement. By encouraging the reporting of hazards, near misses and maintenance issues, workplaces can reduce the prospect of incidents occurring.
Sex workers can report WHS issues including non-compliance with a WHS requirement or a health and safety risk directly to WHSQ, or anonymously via Respect Inc. Talk to us at Respect Inc for more information about your rights and responsibilities, or if you need help to report a WHS issue in your workplace. Once a concern is raised, WHSQ will then assess what action to take in response to this request. To investigate how the workplace is managing health and safety, possible actions may include a visit to the workplace, a phone call or a letter. To raise a concern, visit Raise a workplace safety concern | WorkSafe.qld.gov.au or contact WHSQ on 1300 362 128.
Checklists
If you want to check out how workplace safety laws relate to your workplace, you can find a helpful checklist on the WorkSafe Queensland website: Workplace Health and Safety for Sex Work. The checklists are also available in Thai, Korean, and Mandarin.
Videos
There are short films and other resources in English, Thai, Korean and Mandarin/Simplified Chinese on the WHSQ website.