High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In common with most of Europe and North America, Australian state parliaments have responded to the problem of workplace illness, injury and death by enacting statutory standards regulating certain workplace hazards. Until the 1970s and 80s, these standards have been extremely detailed and technical, focusing mainly on specifying machinery guarding measures to be adopted to prevent injury to workers operating dangerous machinery. Each State and Territory has a principal health and safety Act that sets out requirements for ensuring that workplaces are safe and healthy. These requirements spell out the general responsibilities of different groups of people who play a role in the workplace.