During Asbestos Awareness Week 2009 in Melbourne Australia the trade union movement pledged to begin a national strategy to control and remove asbestos from Australia. This would have been a very tall ask any time in the last two decades but Asbestos needs to compete now with Climate Change for the attention of the media, … Continue reading “Asbestos Awareness Week calls for action”
For over 40 years, the Australian State of Victoria has had several safety organisations that exist under the radar. In the 1960s the Department of Labour & Industries supported the generation of safety groups but many groups simply appeared. These groups are, what in contemporary times would be referred to as, networking groups. The members were from a range of … Continue reading “Grass Roots Safety”
Regularly in OHS submissions to the government and on OHS discussion forums, safety professionals state that industrial relations should be kept separate from workplace safety issues. In a perfect world ? Possibly, but there was a court decision on 13 November 2009 in Australia that shows that this separation is not possible in the modern … Continue reading “Crushed finger leads to claim and Court”
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”
WorkSafe Victoria is investigating two gas leaks that occurred on 6 November 2009 at the Longford gas plant owned by Esso. This plant was subject to a fatal explosion in 1998 and was recently written about on SafetyAtWorkBlog. According to an ABC news report on 11 November 2009, repairing one leak led to a consequent … Continue reading “Gas leaks at Esso’s Longford plant”
The Australian State of Victoria has been in a fortuitous position with a Coroner, Graeme Johnstone, who was a staunch advocate of safety in the public and workplace spheres. Johnstone was a strong and physical presence at many conferences and in the media. Indeed, it would be difficult to find a more obvious and influential … Continue reading “New coronial approach should lead to greater safety information”
At the moment Australian OHS professionals, lawyers and businesses are preparing submissions to the Government on the harmonisation of OHS laws. One of the areas that the Government is seeking advice on is penalties. The Discussion Paper asks the following Q17. Are the range and levels of penalties proposed above appropriate, taking account of the levels set for breaches … Continue reading “New approaches on OHS fines and penalties”