Recovering the regulatory costs for Major Hazard Facilities

About the Major Hazard Facilities (MHF) fees and levies consultation

Major hazard facilities (MHF) store or process very large amounts of certain hazardous substances that have the potential to cause catastrophic harm. These facilities typically include chemical manufacturing sites, gas processing plants, liquid petroleum gas facilities, and other manufacturing and storage depots. The operators of these facilities have obligations under the Major Hazard Facilities Regulations to manage these substances safely.

The MHF fees and levies pay for WorkSafe’s regulatory activity to review facilities’ performance and to provide public assurance that operators are meeting their duties to manage the substances safely.

We are consulting on a range of options for resetting the MHF fees and levies so that they fully recover what we expect WorkSafe’s MHF regulatory activity to cost in the future, and to minimise cross-subsidisation amongst levy payers. We are also consulting on the best ways for returning past surpluses to MHF operators, for example through forward discounts on fees and levies over the next few years.

The feedback you provide to this consultation will help us develop advice for Ministers on what changes should be made to the MHF fee and levy rates.

What we were seeking feedback on

We wanted to hear from MHF operators, individuals and businesses in the MHF sector, consultants and technical specialists in the MHF sector, and any other interested parties, on options for resetting the fees and levies charged to MHF operators. The consultation document sought your feedback on options you thought would be best:

• make sure that MHF fees and levy rates are fair, efficient, effective, and transparent
• provide sufficient levy and fee revenue to appropriately fund WorkSafe’s regulatory activity to monitor and enforce the MHF Regulations, provide guidance, advice and information to operators of major hazard facilities, and
• support safety outcomes in the major hazard facilities sector.

In particular, we wanted to hear from you about your preferred options and the impact of the proposed changes on your business.