In July 2008, an agreement was reached between the Commonwealth and all states and territories within Australia except Western Australia (WA) to begin the process of harmonising Australia’s work health and safety laws. This new model was aimed at reducing red tape and compliance costs for businesses that operate in multiple states. The umbrella laws would also provide workers with equal levels of safety across the nation as well as recognising their licensing and training nationally.
Fast forward to 2013 and what is the state
of play? We now have Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales, ACT,
South Australia and Tasmania all adopting the harmonised model. This leaves
just WA and Victoria out of the loop.
WA are still committed to the process and
have completed their draft WHS which is expected to be implemented in 2013. WA has
also started public consultation on the Regulations in August 2012 and will be
working through this process in 2013.
This leaves Victoria. The last
communication on the WorkSafe website stated that Victoria would not adopt the
national legislation. The reason for this stance is an expected $3.4 billion
cost over five years with no perceived benefit in terms of safety levels.
3 comments:
It is only a matter of time before Victoria adopts the laws.
Once the Victorian economy begins to suffer, or pressure is put on the government, due to projects been awarded to sites in other states, they will have to adopt the legislation.
If your company had national interests, and there is a choice of different sites available for your operations, Victoria already has one negative against it's name.
This is indeed a good practise as health and safety services play an important role for the development of the organisation. These will not only prevent accidents but can also increase the productivity of the firm.
I work in a culture where most of the time production is valued more than safety and safety is taken as hurdle in the way of production. In situations where there is no safety at all I settle for minimum standard requirements and let them work. In other situation where I have time I invite them to give suggestions to make it safer and let them do it their way. Normally they are safer than standard requirements.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Post a Comment