OHS REPS @ WORK

VTHC Secretary, Leigh Hubbard, welcomed today's release of the Review of the Occupational Health & Safety Act by Chris Maxwell, QC. "The 495 page document is very detailed and will require close examination. We look forward to participating in the public consultations over the next 8 weeks."

Mr Hubbard said that from the initial briefing it was clear that Chris Maxwell had undertaken a comprehensive review of the Health & Safety Act and that commentators and stakeholders should not focus on the few controversial areas of the report. "This report covers everything from the obligations of duty holders, the role of inspectors, the role of information and employer incentives, ways to improve consultation within workplaces and a range of other matters. The very good work undertaken by Chris Maxwell should not be lost in some contrived debate about penalties and whether one employer per year might face a gaol term in the very worst cases. I urge all stakeholders, especially employers, to give the report a fair go and not engage in scare-mongering within their constituencies and in the community."

Mr Hubbard said that the trade union movement was very disappointed that the review did not deal with the issue of industrial manslaughter but understood that the government had made commitments not to amend the Crimes Act to create such an offence.

"On first reading, we welcome many of the recommendations made by Chris Maxwell but will need to understand how they will work in practice before we can comment in any detail. It is no secret that we have been calling for new ways of ensuring that workplaces without safety representatives can be monitored. We have called for a new category of representative called a roving representative who may be accredited to visit workplaces other than their own. We have also called for union officials to have rights under the Health & Safety Act to visit workplaces to investigate health and safety breaches. We have called for increased protection for OH&S representatives against discrimination.

These matters are addressed and we welcome this, although we have concerns about qualifications on a number of the recommendations.

We also called for a right for unions to be able to launch prosecutions as currently occurs in New South Wales and Queensland. We understand Mr Maxwell has recommended against such a right here in Victoria and this is a major disappointment."

On the issue of penalties Leigh Hubbard notes that the report does not recommend any specific monetary penalties but simply says that Victoria lags behind others states in the level of financial penalties. "We look forward to engaging in the discussion about what the appropriate penalties ought to be. But we do note that Mr Maxwell has also recommended that there be other mechanisms by which employers can avoid prosecution including enforceable undertakings to make their workplaces safer. In respect to the option of gaol sentences for senior officers of companies, we note that this is available to courts in all other states. We also note that it is very rare that an employer will face a gaol term and that courts will use their discretion, taking into account a range of factors when sentencing.

This review is a serious piece of work. We note that the Labor Party's election policy in 2002 was to ensure that "Victoria has the leading occupational health & safety legislation in Australia". At this stage much of the report is simply about bringing Victoria up to the standards of other states in a range of areas.

"We are pleased that this report is detailed and intellectually rigorous in its approach. We hope that it will underpin a reasoned public debate. We believe that two months is an adequate period given the already high level of consultation that has occurred during the review period itself. Workplace health and safety is such a key priority for unions that we believe that the government response to the report should be legislated during the spring session of Parliament."