Rees v Safework NSW [2023] NSWCATAD 325

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Rees v Safework NSW [2023] NSWCATAD 325 Hearing dates: 16 October 2023 Date of orders: 18 December 2023 Decision date: 18 December 2023 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: L Andelman, Senior Member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – administrative review of decision to suspend accreditation of an assessor – high risk work licence – basic scaffolding – non compliance with conditions Legislation Cited: Administrative Disputes Review Act 1997 Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 Work Health and Safety Regulations 2017 Cases Cited: Thiess v Collector of Customs (2014) 250 CLR 664 Texts Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Timothy Rees (Applicant) SafeWork NSW (Respondent) Representation: A Mearrick (Agent) (Applicant) NSW Department of Customer Service (Respondent) File Number(s): 2023/00193157 Publication restriction: Nil

REASONS FOR DECISION 1. On 6 June 2023, SafeWork NSW (the Respondent or SafeWork) determined to suspend the accreditation of Mr Timothy Rees (the applicant or Mr Rees) as an assessor for high risk work licence for the licence class of 'basic scaffolding' (HRWL) under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the Act) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (the Regulation). 2. SafeWork suspended Mr Rees' licence on the basis that he failed to comply with conditions of accreditation for high risk work licence assessors to conduct high risk licence assessment in NSW (the Conditions). 3. The decision to suspend was confirmed in the internal review and Mr Rees applied to the Tribunal seeking external review under s63 of the Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (the ADR Act).