On 14 October 2009, Australian law firm Deacons hosted a breakfast seminar of the draft OHS model law proposed by the Australian Government. The speaker, Mike Hammond, expressed concern about many sections of the draft laws because they do not seem to fit how OHS law has been structured in Australia and the UK for over thirty years. This is not to say … Continue reading “OHS is becoming criminal law in a social context”
At SafetyatWorkBlog the use or reuse of material is carefully considered. Some articles are not proceeded with, or media used, because of copyright, restrictions or cost. No content is used from websites without permission or without referring back to the original source and providing hyperlinks if possible. An example of how internet information can go wrong occurred earlier … Continue reading “Verify website data”
The research statistics quoted in an earlier blog article have finally been located. It is important to understand the limitations of the study. Firstly, these are not statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics so they do not have the same weight as the regularly issued Labour Force statistics. It would be great if the government began collating this … Continue reading “More on leave retention and mental health”
The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) has released a statement that discusses the economic and personal costs of presenteeism in relation to Australia’s new National Employment Standards. In the statement the ACCI mentions: “…the colossal national stockpile of annual leave and its toxic impact on the wellbeing of business and employees.” “It doesn’t take … Continue reading “The retention of leave indicates a broken business”
Ken Phillips, executive director of Independent Contractors of Australia, wrote an opinion piece in The Australian on 6 October 2009 that demands attention. Phillips supports the Federal Government’s program of harmonisation of OHS laws in that it will remove what he sees as the injustices of the OHS legislation in New South Wales. “The situation is different … Continue reading “NSW contractor representative talks bluntly about the politics of OHS laws”
Andrew Douglas, an Australian OHS and employment relations lawyer, has followed up some his points made in a podcast on 2 October 2009 in an article available on his firm’s website. Part of the article says So what is different about the Model Act and how will it be interpreted? When interpreting an Act you always turn to … Continue reading “Harmonised OHS laws – winners and losers”
Cooper Grace Ward is another Australian law firm who has issued a brief alert on the proposed OHS model laws in Australia. As a Queensland-based firm it has a slightly different take on the draft Safe Work Act Duty of Care Cooper Grace Ward see the introduction of “reasonably practicable” as a new duty of … Continue reading “Queensland take on Model OHS laws”