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Simple Safety Update - Issue 13 January 2011

Happy New Year and welcome back to the cold face! Hopefully you have all had had a wonderful break and are refreshed and invigorated for 2011. The Simple OHS Solutions plan for 2011 is to continue to help you improve your workplace safety and get ready for the new legislation due out at the end of 2011.

Yes in 12 months the most significant change on occupational health and safety legislation will come into effect and all states and territories will operate under mirrored OHS legislation. This will hopefully have the effect of making life safer for works and easier for employers, but it will not be without its challenges.

Over the next 12 months SOS will walk you through the major changes that will affect you and your business. This month we have provided a link to an article from the OHS Professional Magazine put out by the Safety Institute of Australia where I talk about the benefits and possible pit falls of harmonisation, but you are not on your own, we are here to make the transition as easy as possible for you, your business and workers. CALL US ON 1300 OHS 843 TO GET STARTED

Don’t forget this month’s Simple Safety Stuff up. It’s amazing what some people will do.

Click Here to view the article on harmonisation.

Ours thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the Victorian and Queensland floods

OHS News - Are your Young Workers safe?

ChaWorksafes latest focus is on Young Workers. Young Workers aged 16 – 24 have the highest rate of injury in Victoria. They also have a 21% higher rate of hospitalisation when injured and the majority of their injury’s are musculoskeletal and open wounds . Yet 50% of Young Workers do make a claim for their workplace injury. Lack of experience, poor confidence, following bad examples and not being aware of rights and responsibilities are factors that can cause injury in the workplace. Worksafe inspectors will be checking that young workers have been provided with adequate training, induction, supervision and are involved in safety consultation in the workplace.

Click here to download the WorkSafe Guide to Your Health and Safety Guide to Managing Young Workers and CALL US ON 1300 OHS 843.

Harmonisation Countdown

1 – What is it All About

The new harmonised OHS legislation will hopefully do just that! Harmonise the regulation of safety across all Australian states and territories. What this effectively means is the obligations of employers will not change just because you cross a state border. However each state and territory will still regulate the law. This means there will still be a WorkSafe Victoria, Workcover NSW etc. but they will all be singing from the same hymn book.

The legislation is called the Work Health and Safety Act and comes into effect on 1 January 2012 and has the following key elements.

primary duty of care requiring persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) to, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the health and safety of workers and others who may be affected by the carrying out of work
duties of care for persons who influence the way work is carried out, as well as the integrity of products used for work
a requirement that ‘officers’ exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure compliance
reporting requirements for ‘notifiable incidents’ such as the serious illness, injury or death of persons and dangerous incidents arising out of the conduct of a business or undertaking
a framework to establish a general scheme for authorisations such as licences, permits and registrations (e.g. for persons engaged in high risk work or users of certain plant or substances)
provision for consultation on work health and safety matters, participation and representation provisions
provision for the resolution of work health and safety issues
protection against discrimination for those who exercise or perform or seek to exercise or perform powers, functions or rights under the Act.
an entry permit scheme that allows authorised permit holders to:
- inquire into suspected contraventions of work health and safety laws affecting workers who are members, or eligible to be members of the relevant union and whose interests the union is entitled to represent, and
- consult and advise such workers about work health and safety matters.
provision for enforcement and compliance including a compliance role for work health and safety inspectors, and

In our next issues we will look at each of these elements and explain what they mean and how they can affect you, your business and employees. CALL US ON 1300 OHS 843 TO GET STARTED