Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the move, which fulfils an election promise, would bring the ACT into line with other states and territories. An exposure draft of the Magistrates Court (Industrial Proceedings) Amendment Bill 2013 will be open to the public for discussion until the end of this month.

The move comes a day after more than 100 construction workers walked off two separate Canberra Hospital worksites after they were not consulted over safety issues and the union uncovered an alleged case of sham contracting.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union ACT secretary Dean Hall said workers walked off the Leighton refurbishment of the old maternity building shortly after 10am on Monday after it was discovered the contractor had not elected a worker to be on the Work Health and Safety committee, as required by law.

Mr Hall said construction companies were required by the ACT Work Health and Safety Act to elect workers to their safety committees to filter safety issues to management in a protected way.

''Otherwise, in this industry, you make any sort of complaint about safety and next thing you know you have been moved off the job or let go,'' he said.

The company refused to comment on Monday.

Mr Hall said that workers voted unanimously to leave the job.

Similarly, workers were found to be without an elected Work Health and Safety representative at the GE Shaw site refurbishing the emergency department.

When the union questioned GE Shaw managers they nominated a worker who, upon further questioning, appeared to be a sham contractor. GE Shaw did not respond to Canberra Times inquiries.

According to Fair Work Australia, sham contracting is when an employer tries to disguise an employment relationship, usually to avoid paying legal minimum rates of pay, tax, and entitlements.

Mr Hall said the situation would be ''laughable if it wasn't so serious''.

The inquiry's very first recommendation was to ''eradicate sham contracting practices in the construction industry''.

ACT Work Safe Commissioner Mark McCabe said the regulator had not been asked to intervene in the disputes but he noted ''worker consultation is an extremely important aspect of ensuring safety on all work sites, not just construction sites.

''The Getting Home Safely report recognised this, and emphasised the role worker consultation plays in building effective safety cultures. And the current Speak Up About Safety campaign also focuses on this very aspect.

''It is important for workers to have clear processes for raising their concerns and having them responded to by management.''

Mr Hall said GE Shaw had agreed to shut the job down for the day and would hold the appropriate elections for worker representatives on Tuesday.

Mr Corbell said ''ensuring workers in the ACT get home safely is one of this government's highest priorities'' and the industrial court would ''strengthen the capacity of the court system to focus on industrial and workplace health and safety issues''.

The legislation brings the ACT into line with all other Australian jurisdictions, except Tasmania, that already have specialist arrangements within their magistrates courts to hear and decide issues related to workplace health and safety, including workplace accidents and deaths.

The industrial court will be able to hear and decide all workers compensation matters and all industrial civil claims up to $250,000 currently before the magistrates court, as well as being given wider jurisdiction to deal with industrial civil compensation claims over $250,000, which can at present only be dealt with by the Supreme Court.

The criminal jurisdiction of the industrial court will remain the same as that of the magistrates court.

Mr Corbell said an industrial court would help build a single repository of specialisation, knowledge and experience in work health and safety matters.

''The government proposes that the Children's Court model be adopted for the industrial court, as it has the advantage of requiring a specific appointment as an industrial magistrate, which would lead to specialisation in the area of industrial workplace accidents,'' Mr Corbell said.

The consultation period closes on May 26 and the legislation can be viewed at www.legislation.act.gov.au.