Category: manslaughter

First WHS Review submission released is hard work but useful

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has released its submission to the Independent Review of Work Health and Safety Laws.  It is a good example of the business-speak that can erode the effectiveness of clear communication, but the submission is still revealing.  Here is an example from its Executive Summary:

“A nationally-consistent, risk-based preventative Work Health and Safety (WHS) regulatory system, supported by industry-specific regulation, would deliver benefits based on greater certainty, consistency and efficiency. It would also help to ensure that compliance challenges do not detract from the practical tasks of identifying, managing and minimising risk and the continuous improvement of safety and health outcomes by companies.” (Page 3)

So, the MCA wants national occupational health and safety (OHS) laws?

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Queensland’s “production versus protection dichotomy”

Last week the Queensland Government proposed changing some of the health and safety laws that relate to mining.  Changes to occupational health and safety (OHS) laws that improve workplace safety are almost always welcome, but to some extent these recent changes are “catch-up”.

The Government’s media statement of the proposed laws is very positive and the changes are largely very good.  Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister Dr Anthony Lynham is quoted saying

“The Department’s mines inspectorate through their investigations have found that one of the causes of an increase in risk is due to contractors not having a full understanding of the SHMS on the mining site…”

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Video Update #3

It’s been a couple of busy weeks at SafetyAtWorkBlog with three public speaking engagements:

Below is a video update about this activity with a couple of new books mentioned as well.

 

Kevin Jones

5 top OHS issues for 2018

The annual Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) breakfast was held in conjunction with Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) law firm on 21 February 2018.  This year the audience heard from two representatives of WorkSafe Victoria – Marnie Williams, the Executive Director and Paul Fowler, the Director of the Enforcement Group.

The WorkSafe presentations were interesting but included what was largely expected – an introduction to the recent Independent Review report and a reiteration of the WorkSafe Strategy 2030.   (More on WorkSafe’s presentation in the next article)

Some of the more thought-provoking content came from HSF’s Steve Bell.  He presented several issues and perspectives for consideration.

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Industrial Manslaughter laws in Australia are about politics, not safety

The latest push for Industrial Manslaughter laws in Australia has appeared as part of the Tasmanian state election.

The Tasmanian branch of the Australian Labor Party released its policy platform for jobs in February 2018 which makes specific and vague commitments on workplace safety which require scrutiny.

Precarious Work

The Tasmanian Labor Leader, Rebecca White, states that

“Labor is committed to addressing casualisation and the outsourcing of work…”

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Victoria is ripe for Industrial Manslaughter laws

The Victorian trade union movement is preparing for the November 2018 State Election with one element of that campaign being the advocacy of Industrial Manslaughter laws.

At the end of January 2018, the unions “kicked off” their campaign with a meeting which reviewed the challenges and wins for injured workers in 2017 and outlined their intentions for 2018. The Industrial Manslaughter Action Kit included a petition which says: Continue reading “Victoria is ripe for Industrial Manslaughter laws”

Two new audio readings

Several past SafetyAtWorkBlog articles have been posted in SoundCloud as audio files.  One article is a reading of two articles from last year about Queensland’s industrial manslaughter laws.

The other reminds us that sexual harassment and sexual assault did not appear in relation to Harvey Weinstein accusations.  The Australian Human Rights Commission report into sexual assault on university campuses provides an additional context to sexual harassment and workplace health and safety.

Both articles are also available below:

Industrial Manslaughter

Sexual Assault in Universities

Kevin Jones

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