The Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) on Australia’s Work Health and Safety laws has been released and will be available through the Safe Work Australia website shortly (probably today given the media attention). Much attention will be given to the cost estimates of the laws’ introduction but the 336-page RIS seen by SafetyAtWorkBlog emphasises in the … Continue reading “Safety costs of harmonised laws revealed”
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”
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) on 13 September 2011 is muddying the waters on objections to Australian harmonised OHS laws. The Victorian Government would support a delay to the introduction of the laws until, according to previous media reports, the release of the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) on the new laws. The AFR is reporting … Continue reading “Alarmism and confusion over Australia’s OHS harmonisation process”
The latest edition of the Journal of Occupational Medicine (JOM) (Vol 61. No 5 Aug 2011) includes a short article on the occupational impact of climate change, an issue that must be addressed in the work context and one that places additional challenges for those involved with safe design. The JOM article lists the following … Continue reading “OHS will eventually need to address the big climate change impacts”
Some of Australia’s top work health and safety experts have stressed, to Safe Work Australia, the need for a single national OHS regulator. Many also called for a radical overhaul of workers’ compensation and insurance structures to achieve a combined insurance/compensation similar to that of New Zealand, the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC). These calls were made in a whole … Continue reading “Australian OHS experts call for a single OHS regulator and a unified insurance system”
Conference organisers IQPC started its two-day Safety in Design, Engineering and Construction conference on 16 August 2011. The most prominent speaker on day one was Barry Sherriff of law firm, Norton Rose. Sherriff spoke about OHS harmonisation‘s impact on the Australian construction industry. Over time Australian labour lawyers generally have moved from saying that Victorian companies … Continue reading “Concerns increase as Australia’s OHS law changes loom”
The politics of the Australian print media may be illustrated by an article in The Australian Financial Review (AFR) (only available through subscription or hard copy) on 27 July 2011 that, essential contrasts yesterday’s article in The Australian. Today’s AFR article places the Australian Industry Group (AiGroup) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) in … Continue reading “Business groups have different stances on harmonisation issues”