Following the decriminalisation of sex work in Queensland, all sex workers and sex work businesses will be 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.
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.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) is the regulator. 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.
There are short films and other resources in English, Thai, Korean and Mandarin/Simplified Chinese on the WHSQ website.