12. harmonisation of safety Gaye Cameron, Senior Consultant CONSULTING – AUDITING – LABOUR HIRE – TRAINING
Editor's Notes
Thank you for allowing me to come and present to you today. This presentation, even though is short, will provide you a foundation of a drive I believe will assist the emergency services collaborate its experiences, knowledge and skills to adopt and integrate the proposed harmonised model safety laws. The four key areas I wish to address include re-establishing the safety governance in your organisation Improving on your current work practices, and being able to integrate the model laws into your current and future practices How you can gain support from management, and Will the harmonised model safety laws be a hinder or a help for your organisation.
In the last three years, the Model WHS Act had been released for public comment, and has since been finalised. Submissions have since close also for the WHS Regulations, and the comments can now be view on the Safe Work Australia Website. From the model legislation to date, there are changes, and these changes will have some impact on how the emergency services will function – in particular ‘officers’, due diligence and others.
Previously legislation did not set out what amounted to effective due dilligence and a director or officer had to rely upon established common law principles regarding what amounted to an effective due dilligence framework. Under the Model Act, an officer of a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking will now be potentially exposed to a prosecution or fine in the event a regulator establishes that they were not at the time exercising all due diligence in relation to the PCBU. An Inspector from a Regulator will have the power during a site visit irrespective of whether any other breach of the Act has been alleged to have occur, inspect and source to identify the organisation is exercising ‘due dilligence’. Evidence of a due diligence framework and its implementation will need to be available to an officer in the event the regulator requests such evidence during any visit. Up to date contemporaneous records of this framework in action will be important in establishing that an offcer has complied with the duty.
Setting OHS Management System Setting standards for resource OHS personnel & training requirements Providing & establishing workable mechanisms for ongoing auditing Reporting requirements to relevant officers on the safety performance Critical Incident response procedures for critical OHS incidents
Current legislation has the duty of care on the employer the employer to provide for a safe workplace for its employees, safe systems of work, safe plant, safe substances, and a duty of care to provide a safe working environment for its visitors, contractors and others. The new term will be PCBU – the model legislation does not define this clearly but states some characteristics of a business or an undertaking and when a person or an entity is not conducting one.
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