economics – Page 47 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Another salary survey shows increased demand for OHS professionals

Australian recruiting company, Hays, has released its annual salary surveyin which it says that there is increasing demand for OHS professionals in Australia however the salary levels seem comparatively low, particularly at the entry-level. The survey says that the introduction of harmonised OHS laws in most Australian States has:

“…led to increased accountability and thus demand for high risk safety experts.”

It could be said that many safety experts have been “high risk” but the quote above places safety in a risk context. Safety professionals must be able to understand and deal with business risks in the broader context. In some sectors risk management integrates OHS but in others, where risk management is almost exclusively concerned with insurances and safety is the purview of a Health and Safety Representative, OHS is shunned as a foreign concept or a poorly under threat. Continue reading “Another salary survey shows increased demand for OHS professionals”

Victoria’s Workcover Minister reveals more of the “secret” inquiry into Workcover and the Transport Accident Commission

The terms of reference of the Victorian Government’s review of the Victoria Workcover Authority and the Transport Accident Commission remain hidden in the inquiry by the Essential Services Commission but some hints about the review are appearing in the press and official records.

The Australian Financial Review of 21 May 2012 reported that the Victorian Minister for WorkCover, Gordon Rich-Phillips would not rule out the option of merging the two organisations. A reading of the transcript of the budget estimates inquiry conducted by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) illustrate the reasonableness of Rich-Phillips statement – an inquiry has commenced and he should not pre-empt the inquiry findings.

Rich-Phillips said that the inquiry will be looking at

“how [the functions of both organisations] can be improved and how the two agencies can work together better.”

The concerns, principally raised by the Shadow Finance Minister, Robyn Scott, seem to be over potential changes to the TAC, including the use of private insurance companies to manage injuries from motor vehicle accidents, and not about the VWA or WorkSafe. Continue reading “Victoria’s Workcover Minister reveals more of the “secret” inquiry into Workcover and the Transport Accident Commission”

Robust analysis of Work Health Safety laws shows considerable economic benefits

Recently SafeWorkSA released its “Regulatory Impact Statement: Model Work Health and Safety Regulations in South Australia“. This report presents radical different economic data compared to the (increasingly discredited) OHS business cost analysis undertaken by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) for the Victorian government.

The South Australian report, conducted by Deloitte, found the following economic and social impacts of new work health and safety laws:

“Our analysis indicates that adoption of the work health and safety reforms is the preferred option because it achieves the objectives of work health and safety harmonisation as determined by COAG. Moreover, the safety benefits of harmonisation exceed the compliance costs, and the long-term return to the SA economy significantly exceeds the one-off cost of implementation of the new laws, even without taking into account the expected productivity benefits of the reforms.”

The Executive Summary provides a good level of cost data with far less equivocation than does the PwC report and therefore provides an impression of greater validity. Continue reading “Robust analysis of Work Health Safety laws shows considerable economic benefits”

Latest Productivity Commission data on Australia’s OHS costs

On 15 May 2012, Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC) released its findings into ” the impacts of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reforms: Business Regulation and Vocational Education and Training (VET)”. The report includes a chapter on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). That chapter states:

“Uncertainty exists over the implementation of the agreed [OHS harmonisation]reforms by the remaining three jurisdictions.

If implementation proceeds, and the agreed reforms become operational:

all employers are likely to face transition costs in the order of $850 million in aggregate (around $75 per worker);

multi-state businesses are likely to see compliance costs fall and safety outcomes improve, generating total possible net cost savings of $480 million per year; and

for single-state businesses, despite possible improvements in safety outcomes, additional compliance activities are likely to increase business costs in aggregate for this group by around $110 million per year.”

$A75 per worker seems an acceptable impact although, at first view, single-state businesses, the vast majority of Australian businesses, look to be disadvantaged. However, the report also states that

“Without full implementation [of OHS harmonisation], there is a risk that businesses will face significant transition costs without realising the possible cost savings from harmonised laws.” (emphasis added)

Here is the political and economic need to play well with each other. Continue reading “Latest Productivity Commission data on Australia’s OHS costs”

Victoria bows out of OHS harmonisation

According to an official budget speech by Victoria’s Treasurer, Kim Wells, the State will not be enacting the model Work Health and Safety laws. Under the subheading “A Stronger Victoria” (page 14), the Treasurer states

“The Government will not sign up to the current proposal for harmonised legislation for occupational health and safety. It offers little benefit for Victoria to offset the $3.4 billion of estimated costs, the majority of which falls on small business. Victoria will continue to work towards best practice legislation.”

Evidence of the need to change how and why we work

Last week Professor Rod McClure of the Monash Injury Research Institute urged Australian safety professionals to look at the ecology of safety and injury prevention. By using the term “ecology” outside of the colloquial, he was advocating that we search for a universal theory of injury prevention. In short, he urged us to broaden our understanding of safety to embrace new perspectives. It could also be argued that he wanted to break the safety profession out of its malaise and generate some social activism on injury prevention – a philosophical kick in the pants.

Before discussing the latest research Australia’s Barbara Pocock has undertaken, with her colleagues Natalie Skinner and Philippa Williams, the challenge of achieving some degree of balance between the two social activities of work and non-work can be indicated by a graph provided by Dick Bryan and Mike Rafferty in a recent DISSENT magazine article about financial risk.

In 2008 people in Australian households were working over 50 hours per week. The reasons for this are of less relevance than the fact that Australian workers are well beyond the 40-hour work week, not including any travel time. Work has a social cost as well as a social benefit and any discussion (debate?) over productivity, as is currently occurring in Australia, must also consider the social cost of this productivity. The graph above is a symptom of the challenge of achieving a decent quality of life and a functional level of productivity – the challenge that Pocock, Skinner and Williams have undertaken. Continue reading “Evidence of the need to change how and why we work”

Union protest is a dry run for Workcover Review and Workers’ Memorial Day

The next stage of a union campaign over the management of workers’ compensation premiums in Victoria occurred in late March 2012. Trade unions are angry that the Liberal Government of Premier Ted Baillieu has chosen to remove almost $A500 million from the Victorian Workcover Authority (VWA) fund to be allocated to general revenue. On the steps of Parliament several hundred union members and interested parties were told to “keep their hands off workers’ money”. Some of this hyperbole needs a little analysis.

Several unionists stated that the workers’ compensation fund is “workers’ money”. Yes and no. Yes in that almost revenue created by business comes from labour but when workers’ compensation is required, by law, to be paid to the Workcover Authority by employers, the ownership is a couple of steps away from workers. Also Workcover takes the premiums as an economic base to invest in the hope of increasing the total fund through dividends and other returns. The total fund includes premiums and returns on investment, over which workers have no influence. Continue reading “Union protest is a dry run for Workcover Review and Workers’ Memorial Day”

Category: economics

Another salary survey shows increased demand for OHS professionals

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Victoria’s Workcover Minister reveals more of the “secret” inquiry into Workcover and the Transport Accident Commission

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Robust analysis of Work Health Safety laws shows considerable economic benefits

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Latest Productivity Commission data on Australia’s OHS costs

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Victoria bows out of OHS harmonisation

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Evidence of the need to change how and why we work

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Union protest is a dry run for Workcover Review and Workers’ Memorial Day

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