Years ago I was invited to speak at a safety conference and to conduct a workshop. I cocked up the workshop and realised that my conference presentation would need considerable reworking. This experience made me shy of speaking engagements for a while but has provided me with a lasting suspicion on conference workshops. At several … Continue reading “Do OHS workshops work?”
Possible future OHS conversation between Person Conducting Business or Undertaking (PCBU) and an OHS Inspector or OHS professional looking at a piece of plant: PCBU: “Look at this machine, it now complies with the work health and safety laws, as far as is reasonably practicable.” OHS: “Terrific. How did you work out that the plant … Continue reading “Reasonably Practicable is more a hindrance than a help”
On 23 May 2011, prominent Australian business writer, Robert Gottliebsen published an article in BusinessSpectator entitled “Saying no to Canberra’s IR dopes“. The article was uncharacteristically contained major errors on the application of new harmonised OHS laws. The article generated considerable discussion on some Australian OHS discussion forums but the article’s website has attracted only one comment. SafetyAtWorkBlog is in … Continue reading “SafeWorkSA responds to Gottliebsen OHS article”
Safe Work Australia (SWA) has released the latest communique following the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council meeting on 9 December 2009. Various amendments have been made to the draft Act following the public submissions period. Those amendments that SWA consider significant are: adoption of the definition of ‘officer’ in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001 and … Continue reading “News on Australia’s OHS model Act”
A quick survey of some of the public submissions on the development of Australia’s model OHS Act illustrates the challenges facing the government after it decided not to include a requirement for only people who are “suitably qualified” in OHS to provide advice to business on workplace safety. Organisations across the political spectrum have spoken … Continue reading “The “suitably qualified” challenge on OHS”
A reader has drawn SafetyAtWorkBlog’s attention to one State regulator in Australia who has already begun to apply the broader definition for “employer” in their OHS guidance material. In September 2009, the ACT Safety Commissioner published a Guidance on “Safe Structures, Systems and Workplaces“. In that guidance, the Commissioner refers to …”New general duties to … Continue reading “PCBUs have begun appearing”
In OHS law in Australia, the employer/employee relationship is dead or, at least, coughing up blood. OHS law is to be based on “people conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBUs have been discussed briefly elsewhere) and not a worker working in a workplace, even though the recently changed industrial law, the Fair Work Act, maintains this relationship. This morning … Continue reading “OHS – time to grow up or get locked in the attic”