Several readers have raised their eyebrows over recent media reports in South Australia that say that SafeWorkSA is in the process of accepting an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) related to the death of 54-year-old Debra Summers, who was found dead in a freezer at the Echunga police training reserve on October 4, 2016. The use of EUs when a fatality is involved deserves discussion and resolution, especially when the workplace death involves a hazard that was so well-known.
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Advertise With UsFamily violence at work, looking at trees instead of forest
Victoria’s Minister for Workplace Safety, Jill Hennessy, has released a media statement about the occupational health and safety (OHS) context of family violence, referencing a WorkSafe Victoria guidance note from January 2018.
Hennessy is quoted saying:
“Employers have a legal obligation to provide a safe workplace for their employees – and that includes doing whatever they can to support workers experiencing family violence.”
But what level or type of support is expected from employers? Family violence is damaging and insidious but also a crime. It is also a subset, or maybe a special type, of workplace violence as is evident by WorkSafe’s reference to its broader violence publication at the end of the family violence guidance note. The publication, A guide for employers Preventing and responding to work-related violence, outlines the employers duty of care, which includes prevention.
Steady as she goes in Victoria
The annual Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) breakfast was held at the Melbourne offices of Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF). As has become a tradition, a spokesperson for WorkSafe Victoria was the feature presenter and this year that was the very recently appointed Executive Director of Health and Safety, Julie Nielsen. HSF’s Steve Bell also provided an update on OHS laws and national Work Health and Safety (WHS) changes.
Business groups miss the target on sexual harassment
Two business associations have released the submissions they provided to Australia’s National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces – the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Australian Industry Group (AiG). These submissions have been eagerly anticipated as these two groups are politically influential.
ACCI has based its submission on 13 “principles”:
- Employers oppose sexual harassment
- Sexual harassment is not good business
- More Australians need to be able to recognise sexual harassment
- We need to improve the attitudes Australians bring to work
- The law needs to support employers in turning values into action
- We need to recognise/reward learning and change
- Individuals must be made more accountable for their own behaviour
- Greater effectiveness does not demand more law
- Regulation needs to be smart, simple, clear and balanced to be effective
- Jurisdictional overlap / repetition detracts from effectiveness
- Businesses have differing capacities and cultures
- Sexual harassment can be challenging to manage
- This is a moving target; new sexual harassment risks are emerging
Each one of these sound positive but can be argued over. For instance “sexual harassment can be challenging to manage”. This is less of a principle than a reason, or even an excuse. Sexual harassment is complex to manage as it is not just about poor relationships, it involves a sexual element which involves power and disrespect; power that is sometimes misinterpreted as leadership or part of a manager’s entitlement.
Full audio interview with Marie Boland
Audio of the full interview with Marie Boland is now available to SafetyAtWorkBlog subscribers. Several issues were discussed that were edited from last week’s SafetyAtWorkBlog article.