We continue on our discussion surrounding the Federal Harmonisation of Safety Legislation in Australia.
I recently read an article written by the National Research Centre for OHS Regulation, which I wish to discuss here. The full article can be found here
The National Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (NRCOHSR) is a research centre within the Regulatory Institutions Network, in the School of Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy, at The Australian National University.
One area of interest is the discussion surrounding contract, sub-contract, home-based arrangements and other “outside the box” type of engagements. The Centre stated:
“A second noteworthy point is the need for OHS regulators to pay greater attention to work relationships outside the traditional employment relationship. With the dramatic changes that are taking place in the Australian labour market, mirroring changes taking place elsewhere in the world, regulators need to develop standards, guidance material, inspection programs and enforcement strategies that accommodate subcontracting, labour hire, home-based work and franchise arrangements.”
I was interested to note that the Centre went on to discuss the election of sub-contractors to positions of Safety Representatives, removing the past norm of Representatives being sourced from the employee pool. I would be concerned of the shifting of Representatives from employees (who have certain inalienable employee rights under legislation) to subcontractors who are reliant on the organisation to renew contracts or to engage them in future services.
Another item discussed by the Centre was past Australian legislation omitting the promotion of “multi-disciplinary occupational health services by employers”. The Centre goes on to discuss the Queensland model of Workplace Health and Safety Model and promotes this model as an example of positive format:
“The most successful provision appears to be the Queensland provision requiring an employer to appoint a workplace health and safety officer when there are 30 or more workers normally employed at a prescribed workplace;…”
Safety & Security Australia has consulted and audited in all States of Australia and we have concerns that the proposed national legislation in its current format, removes the role of Workplace Health and Safety Officer. It does seem incongruous to us that a model held as example of positive safety management as identified by the NRCOHSR, is to be removed by the harmonisation legislation.
It may also be a concern that the changes could lead to Safety Representatives being sourced from sub-contract positions which could be more prone to pressure of contract renewal or any other perceived influences.
Mar 24, 2011 @ 19:45:12
Hi Brett,
Good post mate. I agree with your thoughts regarding the election of sub-contractors as OH&S representatives. To me there is a definite potential for conflict of interest here and I think employers and regulators need to tread very carefully if they are to go down that path.
With regard to the model legislation removing the role of the WHSO however I have to say I disagree. QLD is the only state in Australia which currently has legislation requiring safety personnel dependent upon employee numbers and I think that is a good bit of legislation, but I believe that QLD’s WHSO training falls well short of what is generally considered the entry level OHS standard (Cert IV OHS) elsewhere. I believe that it is not the role of legislation and regulators to set the standard for training and competency requirements in OHS roles – it is my belief that this is an area where organisations like SIA really need to show some initiative and expand the realm of professional recognition and certification for safety professionals here in Australia. Look at IOSH in the UK or ASSE in the US. These organisations have some serious pull and typically employers in those nations require membership in those organisations as a pre-requisite for employment. Here in Australia the vast majority of non-ohs personnel have never even heard of SIA.
That’ll do from me for now
…. I haven’t slept since yesterday (My baby boy was born this morning 
) so I probably ranted a bit, but you get that 
Regards,
Dave
Mar 24, 2011 @ 22:34:51
Dave, great to hear from you and congrats on the new member of your family! Get some sleep and stop reading…take some time off work. Thanks again for your comments. I really would love to get a number of us taling about this and other issues that we safety professionals, employers and employees face.