WorkSafe Victoria’s Executive Director, Health and Safety , Marnie Williams, has had a horrid week. Last Saturday, while being ill with a cold, she stood in for the Victorian Industrial Relations Minister at a Migrant Worker Forum, at which she was asked “what you gonna do about it?”. However she continues to make herself available, …
Australia has a political structure of States and Territories existing within a Federation or Commonwealth. Legislative change has a smooth journey when political stars are aligned, where the same political party is in power at State and Federal levels. Federal change is even smoother when the same political party has control of both houses of …
Coincidentally, as an article about quad bike safety was being uploaded to this blog, details of the release of Tasmanian coronial findings were received. The findings were released by Coroner Simon Cooper on August 25 2017 and were not reported widely. The Coroner investigated seven deaths related to quad bikes but only two occurred on … Continue reading “Tassie Coroner releases his safety findings on 7 quad bike deaths”
In findings released this week in New Zealand, Coroner Brigitte Windley has recommended that WorkSafeNZ and the Accident Compensation Corporation consider whether there is a case for mandatory crush protection devices (CPD) or Roll-over protection devices (ROPs) for all quad bikes. She states that her decision is based on “…compelling Australian research providing the first ever … Continue reading “NZ Coroner suggests mandatory ROPS for quadbikes”
Following yesterday’s article on the impending international occupational health and safety (OHS) management Standard, ISO45001, some readers have asked for more details. David Solomon, the Head of the Australian International Delegation of ISO45001 provided a table that compares the elements of ISO45001 with AS4801 and OHSAS18001. According to Solomon there are several elements that are …
The Queensland Government has released the final report of its “Best Practice Review of Workplace Health and Safety Queensland“. Most of the media attention is given to the introduction of Industrial Manslaughter laws but there are some interesting recommendations and discussion on Enforceable Undertakings, insurance products and other matters of interest to business and safety …
On 17 August 2017, Matthew Swinbourn of the Australian Labor Party spoke, at length, in the Western Australian Parliament about workplace safety. His address did not seem to be prompted by an industrial relations dispute or a recent fatality but is supportive of general occupational health and safety (OHS) principles and the changes in WA …