small business – Page 23 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Australian OHS Awards need a review to stay relevant

Australia’s OHS awards season has concluded with many of the same challenges it had in 2009.

Most States have harmonised their awards categories so that the national OHS awards in March 2011 are fairer but the worth of some categories, listed below, remains in question.

“Category 1: Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System

a. Private Sector

b. Public Sector

Category 2: Best Solution to an Identified Workplace Health and Safety Issue

Category 3: Best Workplace Health and Safety practice/s in Small Business

Category 4: Best Individual Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety

An employee, such as a health and safety representative

An outstanding contribution by an OHS manager or a person with responsibility for work health and safety as part of their duties”

The category of most concern is “Best OHS Management System”. For several years many OHS and media people have asked “why should a company receive an award for what they should already be doing?” Continue reading “Australian OHS Awards need a review to stay relevant”

Do budget cuts equal cuts in safety enforcement?

There are several issues in the United Kingdom at the moment that could affect workplace safety, not including Lord Young’s OHS review.

Great Britain is to undergo enormous funding cuts to most of the civil service. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is to have its budget cut by 35% according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Another issue is that a TUC survey has found:

“Almost half (49%) of safety representatives said that as far as they know, a health and safety inspector has never inspected their workplace…”

The TUC says that the same survey indicates that the threat of inspection is a major motivator to OHS improvements. In a media release on 1 November 2010 TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

“Knowing that an inspector is likely to visit is one of the key drivers to changing employers’ behaviour and making the workplace safer and healthier. It is a scandal that nearly half of workplaces in the UK have never been visited by a health and safety inspector.”

And those inspectors are most likely to come from the HSE . Data from the HSE shows that the number of enforcement notices has hovered around 10,000 each year for the last decade. The number of prosecutions over that time have steadily declined.

What is really required is the number of the inspections undertaken by the HSE but this information is not included in the latest annual statistics.

If safety improvements are made in businesses due to the threat of an OHS inspection by a regulators, how does the HSE plan to keep the pressure on when it will lose over a third of its budget? Continue reading

Asbestos prosecution highlights community risks

A recent asbestos-related prosecution by WorkSafe Victoria illustrates the prevalence of asbestos as an environmental, public and occupational problem.

According to a media statement on 5 November 2010,

“Joshua Luke Marshall, operating as Affordable Demolitions and Asbestos Removals, told two separate homeowners he was licensed by WorkSafe to carry out asbestos removal work, although he didn’t hold a licence….”

“…The first incident was in January 2009, when Mr Marshall was hired to remove asbestos cement sheeting from a house in Corio.

Mr Marshall was halfway through the job when a WorkSafe inspector arrived at the property in response to an anonymous complaint.

“What our inspector found when he walked onto the property was unbelievable,” Continue reading “Asbestos prosecution highlights community risks”

Harmonious fragility or fragile harmony – OHS and politics in Australia

Less than 24 hours after mentioning the fragility of Australia’s OHS harmonisation process, confirmation comes from an unexpected source, Kristina Keneally, Premier of New South Wales (pictured right). It would seem that Keneally’s decision to change her stance on OHS is more to do with a general package of industrial relations and, union-friendly, reforms, as reported in the Brisbane Times on 14 October 2010 (video available HERE). Yet she has stated that

“”We will not therefore introduce the model OHS legislation as it is currently drafted.”

The media has been quick of highlighting this new tension between State and Federal agendas. Prime Minister Julia Gillard was asked about Keneally’s statements and responded:

“….I think the Keneally Government should honour the agreement it made. It had an extensive period of time to raise issues of concern – and indeed it did, through its Minister at the Workplace Relations Ministerial Council table. Issues were raised, issues were discussed. When you are reaching uniform laws, it is obvious that states and territories come with different perspectives. They’ve got their own laws. If no-one moves then you never get national uniformity.

So, yes, New South Wales raised issues along the way, but it accepted the outcomes and it signed the deal. We require the deal to be delivered.” Continue reading “Harmonious fragility or fragile harmony – OHS and politics in Australia”

Codes and Regulations prioritized in Australia’s harmonisation process

When the Australian Government began the process of reviewing OHS laws in order to achieve harmonisation, there was a fairly tight schedule for these reforms. Draft OHS codes of practice and regulations were due in the second half of 2010. The last public statement on these public comment documents was that drafts were due for release at the end of October. The latest rumour is that some of the documents will be out around November 10.

It has been mentioned elsewhere that Safe Work Australia has missed a major public relations opportunity by not getting documents ready for release in its Safe Work Australia Week in late October, for it is guaranteed that all State OHS regulators will be badgered about the draft documents as Safe Work Australia Week events.

Codes

SafetyAtWorkBlog has learnt that many of the codes of practice and occupational health issues have been prioritized. “Priority Codes” will include:

Asbestos
Safety Data Sheets
Chemical Labelling
Consultation
Risk Management Continue reading “Codes and Regulations prioritized in Australia’s harmonisation process”

Small business OHS seems to be stalled

OHS research into why the small business sector does not “get” safety has been occurring in Australia for over ten years with some of the most useful being undertaken by Dr Claire Mayhew. But the challenge, or problem, persists.

On 4 October 2010, WorkSafe Victoria released some information about an OHS blitz by inspectors on small businesses in Mildura, a rural town in the extreme northwest of Victoria. In some ways, the tone of the media statement is a little defeatist or, at least, exasperated.

“Although we wrote to the businesses and told them we would be visiting, we still had to pull them up on a high number of health and safety issues,” Manufacturing and Logistics Director Ross Pilkington said. “In many cases, the safety solutions were straightforward.” Continue reading “Small business OHS seems to be stalled”

Australia’s Safety Week

The last week of October each year is Safety Week in Australia. It exists under different names in each State but everyone coordinates events for the same time each year. Below are some links for further information, some are more developed than others.

In 2009, I was a Safety Ambassador for Safe Work Australia and found that if one was prepared to give, the rewards were ten-fold.

If you are in Australia I strongly recommend attending one of the many free OHS information events. If you are outside Australia, regularly check the Australia OHS regulator websites for some innovative approaches to safety and its promotion.

Australian Capital Territory (yes, the ACT has a month of activities)

Western Australia

South Australia

Kevin Jones