News & Views
Workplace fatalities increase under harsh new work laws
Commemorative Service at Trades Hall, Friday, 27 April 10.30am
On International Workers Memorial Day the Victorian Trades Hall Council is deeply concerned at the massive increase in the number of people killed at work in Victoria in the past twelve months. 29 people have lost their lives at work in this state since the last Workers Memorial Day, a jump from 19 the year before.
These numbers reflect similarly high increases in the number of workplace deaths around the country.
VTHC Secretary, Brian Boyd said John Howard’s harsh and unjust work laws have directly undermined workplace health and safety standards.
“It is a tragedy that anyone should lose their life at work and to see the number of fatalities go up like this is very alarming. Unions have campaigned hard for many years around workplace safety and to have safety conditions cut due to bad laws is a travesty. This is the human cost of these unjust working laws.”
Figures from the Australian Safety and Compensation Council show there were 157 workplace fatalities in Australia from June 05 to June 06. Worldwide, work kills more people than wars.
On International Workers’ Memorial Day we remember the more than 2 million workers around the world who die, the more than 1.2 million who are injured, and the more than 160 million who become ill each year due to unsafe, unhealthy, or unsustainable work and workplaces.
The VTHC and (IDSA) held a commemoration service at the Workers’ Memorial at Trades Hall at 10.30am on Friday 27 April.
The theme for 2007 is Demand Safe and Healthy Standards and Enforcement.
The Federal Government is also making it easier for employers to leave the state OHS system for the inferior Federal Comcare system. Recent changes to Comcare OHS and comp laws mean that there are fewer OHS and compensation rights under this regime.