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The option to imprison people found guilty of gross negligence, leading to serious harm or death, is amongst significant legislative reforms planned by the Government to cover WA workplaces.

Consumer and Employment Protection Minister John Kobelke said today it was unacceptable that 22 Western Australians had been killed at work in the past year.

"We have cracked down on unsafe work practices, and dodgy employers, and the new reforms will substantially increase penalties for corporations who put workers at risk through a failure of their duty of care," Kobelke said.

"The Gallop Government has restored fairness and flexibility in the workplace, and the maximum fines for breaches of the new occupational safety and health legislation will be the second highest in Australia."

Under the changes, a corporation breaching the proposed new laws could be fined a maximum of $500,000 for a first offence, and $625,000 for subsequent offences.

Western Australia's current maximum penalty is $200,000.

"It is not fair that penalties in this State for employers, whose workers have been seriously injured or killed through a failure of the duty of care, have generally been relatively minor.

"Sentencing guidelines will be introduced to encourage the courts to impose penalties consistent with the offence," Kobelke said

The reforms gave effect to the major recommendations made by Robert Laing, a former Commissioner of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, in his recent review of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

"In keeping with the intention of encouraging responsibility for worker safety to be focussed at the workface, the Government will also introduce a power for appropriately trained and accredited safety and health representatives to issue provisional improvement notices," the Minister said.

Provisional Improvement Notices (PIN) would be issued where the authorised safety and health representative was of the opinion that a breach of the Act or regulations was occurring and was not immediately remedied by the employer.

Kobelke said the PIN system was already in place in Victoria and South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory and had also been adopted for Commonwealth employees.

The Government would also amend legislation to ensure the WorkSafe Commission assumed a pre-eminent role in setting occupational safety and health policy and directions for all workplaces within the State's jurisdiction, including those in the mining industry.

"The Mines Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Committee (MOSHAB) will be retained, under a new format, and the mines safety inspectorate will remain within the Department of Industry Resources," Kobelke said.

"Representation on the WorkSafe Commission will be modified to provide direct representation by industry and union representatives with expertise in the mining industry."

A new Safety and Health Tribunal would be established, under the auspices of WA's Industrial Relations Commission, to hear disputes regarding entitlement to pay and conditions under the issues resolutions provisions.

"This will improve the accessibility of these dispute processes, which are currently dealt with by special magistrates, and provide a level of expertise in hearing these cases," the Minister said.

"Commissioners with suitable knowledge and experience will be appointed to the Safety and Health Tribunal, and will be available be hear OSH matters."