For years Australian OHS legislation has focused on establishing a “safe system of work”. This focus is inclusive and is an understandable approach to safety regulation but it has also generated a fair share of confusion. If a business does not have a documented safety management system, does it have a system of work? Yes it does but the lack of documentation makes it very difficult to describe, particularly if there is a performance benchmark such as “compliance”. Humans like to have a clean line of cause and effect or a linear, causative management process. So vague concepts like “system of work” can be challenging.
Prescriptive rules used to be the way that safety compliance could be met but that world is long gone. Its distance can be seen by looking at the Australian Government’s new model Work Health and Safety Act which compounds the vagueness by including “as far as reasonably practicable” wherever possible. All of this vagueness makes the lot of the business operator more complex and more costly as the business operator seeks clarity from others such as lawyers, OHS consultants, auditors and Standards organizations. Is it any wonder that safety is seen as an exorbitant cost? In essence, OHS regulators have outsourced the responsibility, and the cost, to employers. Continue reading “A safe (social) system of work”
