In 2018, Marie Boland will be conducting an independent review of Australia’s Work Health and Safety laws to see if the laws are “… achieving their original objectives, and if they have resulted in any unintended consequences.” We may already be seeing one of the unintended consequences. On December 22, 2017, SafeWork NSW granted an …
Two recent occupational health and safety (OHS) prosecutions in South Australia related to labour hire employees and providers indicate changes in enforcement approach and clues for change as they illustrate how some people and companies have almost no regard for the safety of its employees. According to a SafeWorkSA media release dated 28 May 2016 … Continue reading “Miserable failures in OHS of labour hire workers”
There are several important lessons from a recent conviction of an occupational health and safety consultant (OHS) in South Australia for impersonating a SafeWork SA inspector on multiple occasions. According to SafeWorkSA’s media release, Sam Narroway has been found guilty of impersonating a SafeWork South Australia Inspector and fined $A15,000. Presiding Industrial Magistrate Lieschke stated …
Occupational health and safety (OHS) may not be a common subject in the mainstream media but there is plenty of political discussion on the topic in Australia’s Parliament. The current (conservative) federal government seems very slow to accept and respond to recommendations from official inquiries that it sees as a secondary political priority, such as …
The reckless endangerment provision of Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 is likely to be crucial to this year’s discussions on Industrial Manslaughter laws and the management of workplace health and safety more generally, particularly as Victoria’s Minister for Workplace Safety, Jill Hennessy, has announced an implementation taskforce that includes a Workplace Fatalities and …
