“The Safety Institute of Australia Ltd (SIA) strongly supports Prime Minister Gillard’s position against the apparent backslide by the NSW Premier Kristina Keneally on the agreements achieved through the Council of Australian Governments that are scheduled to be implemented by all States and Territories by the end of next year”, said Mr Barry Silburn, SIA National President.
The model Work Health and Safety Act and the associated regulations and codes of practice are the most significant and much needed national reforms to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) laws in over thirty years.
The role of the unions and of workers representatives in safety has been recognised and enhanced in the new laws. The accountability of regulators has also been enhanced. These factors remove any justification for a union’s right to prosecute.
These new laws are also not limited to the workplace and will apply to work wherever it is done in Australia as part of a business, that is, they apply as much to the home as they do to the workplace, as much to the road, rail, sport, airports, a hotel room, a shopping centre as they do to a factory, a shop or an office.
Nor is the concept of a worker, broad as it is, a lynchpin to the operation of the legislation. The laws apply as much to the pedestrian as they do to the labourers on a construction site, as much to the customer in a shopping centre as they do to the assistant in a store.
The numbers of deaths and injuries that occur in workplaces annually in Australia and on our roads etc are at totally unacceptable levels and are all preventable.
The leadership shown by the Gillard Government and its agencies and all other stakeholders, including professional associations like the SIA, to create the much needed Work Health and Safety Act, is a critical national interest reform that must not falter because of political or secular self interest.
Barry Silburn CFSIA
National President
Safety Institute of Australia
The SIA is Australia’s leading body for health and safety professionals with 3,500 members. Our vision is “OHS professional excellence to facilitate a safe and healthy workplace for all Australians”. For further information please contact Gary Lawson-Smith, CEO SIA on ~ Telephone: 03 8336 1995 or Mobile 0419 491 547. SIA website www.sia.org.au