lawyers – Page 26 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Trade unions enter debate on profits vs safety

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has issued a media release aimed at addressing or countering some of the concerns over new OHS laws expressed by the business community and some politicians recently.

ACTU President Ged Kearney has said

“Attempts by employer groups to weaken the new regulations are yet another example of business putting profits before safety….. Employer groups called for a national set of health and safety laws, and we would have thought that business would welcome a tough approach to OHS regulations.”

Sympathy for business is unlikely from the union movement but some sympathy is warranted. Australian business was promised that new work health and safety laws would reduce the business costs of complying with laws that differed from across a number of jurisdictions. As companies begin to assess the impacts of new laws on their own business operations, as all companies surely must do, they are noticing additional costs for compliance. Continue reading “Trade unions enter debate on profits vs safety”

Australian lawyers comment on Brodie’s Law

Clayton Utz lawyers have looked at Victoria’s new bullying-related law changes for their relevance to workplace safety management and have found the following.

“Is this an issue for employers?

Yes and no.

Theoretically, even before these proposed amendments, certain types of workplace bullying already fell within the definition of stalking. In one sense, therefore, this doesn’t change the situation much – employers already had the potential problem of, for example, dealing with keeping apart at work a victim and stalker subject to an intervention order.

In another sense, this is clearly an important change. More types of workplace bullying are now criminalised, and public awareness of bullying issues will certainly have been increased by the publicity surrounding this Bill. We can therefore expect a rise in complaints and the number of victims coming forward, and not just in Victoria, as other States and Territories have stalking laws that could cover at least some types of workplace bullying.”

Clearly the awareness of bullying in the workplace is already high but these laws are likely to make the management of this issue more complex and and challenging. Continue reading “Australian lawyers comment on Brodie’s Law”

South Australia is the first to table a new WHS bill

The South Australian Parliament will be the first in Australia to be presented with a Work Health and Safety Bill based on the model National OHS laws. The Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 will be tabled in parliament on 7 April 2011, according to a media release from the South Australian Minister for Industrial Relations, Bernard Finnigan.

Finnigan sees great advantages in the bill:

“Harmonised work health and safety laws will slash red tape for business operators while maintaining a high level of protection for employees,” he said. “It will also provide for greater labour mobility, with training and licences recognised across states and territories.

Organisations will have to comply with just one set of laws regardless of the number of states or territories in which they operate, thereby reducing their compliance costs. Ultimately it means greater certainty for employers and enhanced safety protection for workers.”

There remains some dispute about the optimism that Finnigan shares with many other harmonisation advocates but the validity of the optimism will only be assessed through hindsight.

Kevin Jones

Update 8 April 2011

The Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 is now available online with an FAQ site by SafeWorkSA.

Conference videos provide optimism and nerves

Several years ago I assisted the Safety Institute of Australia in providing introductory video profiles for many of their conference speakers. The intention was to provide a teaser for the content of conference presentations and to introduce more obscure speakers. The strategy is continuing with several pre-conference videos being made available on-line.

Conference teasers in 2011 include Professor Niki Ellis and Australian lawyer, Andrew Douglas.

Andrew Douglas

Andrew Douglas says that safety professionals need to be careful of jargon as it can create an impenetrable elitism that may run counter to the aim of the profession. Part of the risk of professional jargon is that it may support an inaccuracy that creates considerable damage.

Douglas identifies “zero harm” as an example of a phrase or concept that con become popular, perhaps dominant, even though it may be unsupported by OHS laws. Because the laws and the reality of workplace safety is that there will always be people who are hurt or injured at work, “zero harm” is unattainable and those who utter the “mantra of zero harm”, as Andrew Douglas describes it, lose any OHS credibility. Continue reading “Conference videos provide optimism and nerves”

OHS harmonisation to result in a substantial increase in costs to business

Australian lawyer Andrew Douglas has provided a frank assessment of the OHS harmonisation process instigated by the Australian government to reduce red tape and administrative costs of safety. In Smart Company on 1 March 2011, Douglas wrote:

“…the Model Act, the regulations and documents that flow from it will dramatically increase state-based businesses legislative compliance, will massively increase the paperwork proving compliance and will inevitably lead to a substantial increase in costs to business in managing safety and OHS.”

Most State governments continue to support the harmonisation process, in almost all its elements, as a positive for business. So what’s the story here?

Andrew Douglas’ opinion needs serious consideration as it is one of the few contrary positions expressed to date. Continue reading “OHS harmonisation to result in a substantial increase in costs to business”

Only animals should die in abattoirs

The Sunday Age of 30 January 2011 ran an article about the status of workplace safety in some of Victoria’s abattoirs. The article has some similarities to the landmark investigations by Eric Schlosser into work practices and compensation issues related to meatworks in the United States.

The Sunday Age says that

“(Last financial year [2009/2010], there were 355 workers’ compensation claims in Victoria’s meat industry that required at least 10 days off work, or cost more than $580 in treatment, or both – almost one a day. Nationally the industry’s injury and illness rate remains twice as high as that in the construction industry, and four times the average of all workplaces.”

Many would say that meat work is “inherently dangerous” but in the article lawyer Trevor Monti, contests the perception

”Yes, it’s a difficult industry and the work can be hard,” he says. ”But with proper consideration given to the system of work, the risk of injury can be significantly reduced.”

This is a position with which OHS professionals and regulators would agree.

It is significant that, if the comparative figures quoted above by the Sunday Age are accurate, abattoirs do not receive the enforcement attention that the construction industry receives. Is it that the construction industry is largely unionised and the meat industry much less so? Is it that abattoirs are rorting the immigration visa system as asserted by the Australian Meat Industry? Continue reading “Only animals should die in abattoirs”

Safety rationalisation doesn’t end with an improving economy!

Guest contributor, Gerard May, writes

The economic circumstances an organisation finds itself in can greatly affect their approach to workplace health and safety. Tough economic times are still ahead for some industries and organisations, while others who rationalised for survival through the global financial crisis will begin to prosper. This article will delve into what may be happening to Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) in organisations heading into both tough and improving economic times. The economy will play a role.

Rationalisation in the manufacturing industry appears likely as the Australian Industry Group’s Performance of Manufacturing Index showed nine out of the 12 sub-sectors in the industry went backwards in December 2010[1]. Pricewaterhousecooper‘s (PwC) Australian-based global head of industrial manufacturing, Graeme Billings, recently stated,

“In the face of…declines in activity and the continuing slump in new orders, it is imperative that businesses continue to search for efficiencies, improvements and innovative approaches to their markets, products and business models[2].”

OH&S will surely be in the sights of rationalisation in the sector.

Category: lawyers

Trade unions enter debate on profits vs safety

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Australian lawyers comment on Brodie’s Law

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South Australia is the first to table a new WHS bill

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Conference videos provide optimism and nerves

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OHS harmonisation to result in a substantial increase in costs to business

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Only animals should die in abattoirs

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Safety rationalisation doesn’t end with an improving economy!

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