Category: lawyers

Regulations: Addressing Market Failures and the Myth of Free Markets

Recently, Federation Press published a weighty tome written by Arie Freiberg called “Regulation in Australia. 2nd Edition“. For those of you who are legislative junkies and can quote sections of occupational health and safety (OHS) law, you will love this, as it examines the mechanics of regulation, not just those of Industrial Relations or OHS. And there is some powerful context to market failures that often lead to new regulations, a perspective shared with Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway in their 2024 book, “The Big Myth“.

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Can I be convinced EUs are good?

In the realm of occupational health and safety (OHS), Enforceable Undertakings (EUs) have emerged as a significant alternative to prosecution for companies that breach safety legislation. Recently, I had the opportunity to catch up with Naomi Kemp to explore the concept of EUs, their implications for workplace safety, exceeding compliance, and the restoration of relationships following incidents.

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First steps in preventing psychological harm at work may be the hardest

Occupational health and safety (OHS) podcasts are increasingly common. They are reaching peak-podcast just as peak-blog may have done a few years ago, BUT the increased attention to workplace psychological health continues to create more. A new, short, informative, and useful one is “Inside Safety” with lawyers Steve Bell and Nerida Jessup.

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Pyrrhic IR prosecution that ignores the OHS context

Recently, sentencing in a court case in Melbourne has generated much online chatter about excessive working hours and the exploitation of workers in a small law practice. One report of the $A50,000 fine against Erudite Legal says that the company:

“…forced a junior lawyer to work up to 24-hour days and watch an ice hockey movie at 1am so she could understand her boss’ philosophical position”.

Other media reports provide more details of the successful prosecution, but the occupational health and safety (OHS) context is mostly absent.

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Whether it’s a book or a brick, it is invaluable

The latest edition of Creighton & Stewart’s Labour Law book (7th edition) has been released. I say “book”, but it is almost a brick, weighing in on my scales at 1.8 kilograms (see photo below). The book is excellent and probably authoritative, with the primary negative being its size and format. This article focuses on the 79-page occupational health and safety (OHS) chapter written by Richard Johnstone.

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OHS breakfast seminar without WorkSafe Victoria

The latest annual occupational health and safety (OHS) breakfast seminar by the Australian Institute of Health and Safety tried a different format with mixed success. These seminars have run almost continuously at the offices of Herbert Smith Freehills for a couple of decades, and perhaps a refresh was required, but there was one noticeable absence – Victoria’s OHS regulator, WorkSafe.

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Latest OHS News from Maddocks

Last week, Maddocks law firm conducted an end-of-year summary of its workplace relations issues and a forecast for 2025. Occupational health and safety (OHS) are almost inseparable from industrial relations (IR), so the overlaps between the four or five topics discussed were enlightening and provided a good contrast to the information from other law sources.

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