Media reports on the 13 April 2012 Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting say that harmonisation of occupational health and safety laws in Australia has died. Some say this is the fault of the Victorian Government with its economic justification for inaction but the process was struggling as soon as the West Australian Government flagged … Continue reading “OHS is Dead. Long Live WHS.”
The Victorian Government has released the PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) assessment of the potential economic impacts of the introduction of the national Work Health and safety laws. The government media statement accompanying the report states that “The proposed laws do not deliver on the intent of the COAG reform agreed to in 2008 which aimed to reduce the … Continue reading “Victoria’s analysis of OHS law costs is unhelpful politics”
In The Australian newspaper on 3 April 2012, Judith Sloan presents a useful summary of the status of the OHS harmonisation process. Many of her criticisms are valid but she has not realised that the new Work Health and Safety laws stopped being occupational health and safety laws some time ago. It is easier to … Continue reading “Is OHS harmonisation a dead parrot or is it just pining?”
Throughout 2011, Safe Work Australia (SWA) has been conducting consultative workshops in the development of the next ten-year National OHS Strategy. SafetyAtWorkBlog reported previously on the Melbourne meeting. SWA has released their report into that Melbourne meeting. The meeting had a set of criteria for the stakeholders to consider. Sadly, there was no forewarning of the issues to be … Continue reading “OHS Strategy to nowhere”
Further to yesterday’s blog post that mentioned Australia’s Minister for Workplace Relations, Chris Evans, it is worth noting his new media release (not yet available online) in support of the 2011 Safe Work Australia Week. On 23 October 2011, Minister Evans said all the “right” things: “National Safe Work Australia Week, an annual initiative of … Continue reading “Media releases are all positive for Safe Work Australia Week”
According to a media release from Senator Chris Evans, the Australian Minister for Workplace Relations, the Regulatory Impact Statement for the new OHS regulations will be released today, 14 September 2011. The release is not yet publicly available on-line so the full text is included below: New health and safety regulations to boost national productivity “Historic health and safety … Continue reading “Regulatory Impact Statement to be released on 14 September 2011”
Victoria’s largest OHS conference and trade show has ended. The shadow of the impending harmonisation of OHS laws hung over both events. The OHS message throughout the conference was one of nothing to worry about. WorkSafe’s Ian Forsythe felt that Victoria was well-placed for minimal disruption as the OHS laws in that State had … Continue reading “Dis-harmonisation over OHS laws”