New Federal OH&S Laws are Looming Fast | The Small Business Manager

The new Federal legislation will be a wake-up call for employers who are complacent about whether? their occupational health and safety policy will sufficiently cover workplace incidents.

And enforcement is crucial.? That is not a change but what is new, a greater requirement to be able to prove compliance.? A policy along won?y protect you and fines can be very large indeed.

A South Australian case that I mentioned a few weeks ago, where a worker turned up drunk, then proceeded to participate in a diving activity and blacked out, highlighted the need for employers to enforce the policy they have in place.

According to lawyer Aaron Anderson, a partner at Norton Rose law firm, who followed the case, while the employee?s actions and behaviour were contrary to the employer?s policies, the employer acknowledged that there was a failure on its behalf to enforce compliance with those policies.

?It is generally accepted under statutory occupational health and safety laws across Australia that employers and other obligation holders cannot escape liability for failing to put in place a safe system of work even though a worker may have been wilful or neglectful in carrying out their duties,? said Anderson.

Employers are obliged to provide a safe workplace and this includes identifying hazards, training workers, providing appropriate safety equipment where required and providing proper supervision.

Supervisors are required to ensure the people they supervise understand and comply with safety requirements and

Workers are responsible for taking care of their own safety and the safety of others as well as complying with all workplace safety requirements.

Sensible protection for your business is an occupational health and safety management system which you get certified to AS/NZS 49801

Those of you who do not have adequate safety management in your businesses have only seven months to get this into place and I if you can get to my workshop in Adelaide on June 18th or 19th you can learn how to get a compliant safety system in place at my business boosting workshop.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that saves you time and money

Breaking News! Jean is running a subsidised Business Boosting Workshop. You get two full days training for only $99 instead of the usual $2,750

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2011 at 3:33 am and is filed under Occupational Safety AS/NZS 4801 & OHAS 18001. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.envirojean.com/2011/05/30/new-federal-ohs-laws-are-looming-fast/

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