"Out of date" WA work laws to be replaced

Western Australia will finally get a tougher work health and safety regime that brings it into line with the rest of the country but the new laws are still well over two years away.

The new rules would better protect workers and be based on the national Work Health and Safety Act that the rest of the states and territories adopted more than five years ago.

The current WA laws are 33 years old and "out of date", Industrial Minister Bill Johnston said.

The change comes as a parliamentary inquiry is held into workplace authority WorkSafe amid criticism of its performance and existing laws.

There have been 315 work-related deaths in WA since 2001, with almost 20 fatalities occurring every year - one every 19 days - in the 10 years between 2006 and 2016, inquiry chair and Labor MP Adele Farina said.

"Clearly we need to do more to reduce workplace deaths," she said in a statement.

Greens MP Alison Xamon and the CFMEU have been calling for the introduction of a crime of industrial manslaughter that would involve jail time for the worst cases of employers failing to provide a safe work site.

In October, 27-year-old German backpacker Marianka Heumann died after falling 13 floors through an open shaft at the Concerto apartment complex in East Perth.

Less than three months later, a 17-year-old boy fell 12 metres to his death while working on a glass ceiling at the General Post Office building in the CBD.

There would be extensive consultation with stakeholders and the community before introducing the bill to parliament in mid-2019, Mr Johnston said.