New safety legislature is coming - are you ready?
In the past five years we’ve seen significant changes to workplace safety legislation including the Rail Safety Act (2008) and Mines Health & Safety Regulations (2007).
Pegasus keeps a keen eye on each and every amendment to legislation so our clients remain informed.
Although the workplace accident rate in Australia has fallen markedly over the past decade, the new legislation reflects the government’s view that the workplace injury rate is still too high. Therefore, new Occupational Health and Safety legislation is scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2012 which standardises large amount of legislation across Australia by creating consistent laws across the State and Territories.
The new laws, known as the WHS act, will broaden the responsibilities of businesses to maintain a safe workplace and will substantially increase penalties for non compliance.
There are also new important changes for managers and supervisors (to be known as a PCBU – Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) who will have a greater duty to eliminate and minimise risk.
Current legislation focuses on employers regarding the ‘primary duty’ but the new act establishes duties on those who have ability to influence the workplace. It’s a subtle but significant change. It requires those with a positions of responsibility to ensure a safe workplace.
A ‘PCBU’ or ‘officer’ now includes company directors, business partners, senior operational staff and any employees responsible for ensuring excellent health and safety practice within the organisation. There is now an explicit duty that sets out the important steps that all senior staff must take and these duties cannot be delegated.
The legislation will require all these employees to be cognisant with the risks and hazards of the workplace and implement formal compliance plans and ensure these plans are operating fully.
Penalties will increase substantially under the new Act. A corporation faces a maximum fine of $3 million and an individual can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years.
Businesses should be preparing for these significant changes. It’s important that formal compliance plans are put in place and implemented. Officers must be aware of their new personal pro-active duty.
