STANDING COMMITTEE ON LAW AND JUSTICE
Report: Final Report of the Inquiry into Workplace Safety
The Hon. B. H. Vaughan, as Chairman, tabled the report of the committee entitled "Final Report of the Inquiry into Workplace Safety", volumes 1 and 2, dated November 1998, together with submissions, transcripts of evidence and relevant minutes of proceedings.
Report ordered to be printed.
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN [3.31 p.m.]: I move:
That the House take note of the report.
Twenty-six years ago, when Lord Robens of the United Kingdom produced his report entitled "Safety and Health at Work", which became the basis of the regulation of workplace safety in the United Kingdom, all Australian States and Territories and much of the common law world, the world of work was vastly different to that of today. Even in the past 15 years since the enactment of the New South Wales Occupational Health and Safety Act there have been profound changes in the nature of work and industrial relations.
Changes in the labour market, the decline in manufacturing, the rise of service industries, downsizing - an ugly word - the growth in small business, declining membership of trade unions, the shift to temporary and part-time work, changes to working hours and shift work, and the growth in outsourcing and subcontracting are just a few of the more significant changes. Each of the changes has significant implications for occupational health and safety. In such a changed environment it is not surprising that the regulatory approaches designed a generation ago are now in need of renewal.
Against that background this report seeks to chart the way ahead for occupational health and safety into the new millennium. There are five key themes in the report. First, the urgent need for an overhaul of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in this State, with particular focus on the health and safety needs of vulnerable workers, new mechanisms to enhance and develop consultation in the workplace and an enhancement and clarification of the role of codes of practice. Second, recognition of the positive role that occupational health and safety
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management systems can play in improving health and safety, provided that employees are given opportunities for genuine participation in decision making about the organisation of their work.
Third, the need for more creative strategies to be used in providing guidance about workplace safety to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Fourth, the need for the development of new approaches to enforcement. Fifth, the need for the Government to articulate a clear vision statement and action program for workplace safety.
On behalf of the committee I would like to thank all those individuals and organisations who have been of assistance to the committee in the inquiry. I would like to thank Mr John Grayson, General Manager of WorkCover New South Wales, and his staff for their assistance throughout the inquiry, and for their readiness to respond to numerous requests for information. Most importantly, I would like to thank each of the 84 organisations and individuals who took the time to make a written submission to this inquiry and those who have freely given of their time to participate in committee hearings, round-table meetings and seminars - 77 people gave formal evidence, 56 people participated in round-table meetings and 160 people attended our public seminars.
One of the most encouraging features of the inquiry has been the great enthusiasm and commitment of people from a wide range of backgrounds who are concerned about workplace safety. During recent years there has been a great deal of sanctimonious and misleading commentary from the tabloid media, in particular, about parliamentary overseas travel. My committee makes no apology for the fact that in July of this year a delegation from the Standing Committee on Law and Justice undertook an 18-day study tour to Europe to examine issues at the heart of this inquiry.
Included as appendix 1 to the committee’s report is a detailed description of each meeting undertaken on the study tour, and a discussion of lessons for New South Wales. As will be evident to anyone reading that material, the information gathered on the study tour has been critical in the formulation of a number of recommendations contained in the report, particularly in the area of occupational health and safety management systems and the provision of guidance to small business.
The final chapter of the report also draws attention to the relevance of certain European experience to the new structure for stakeholder ownership of our workers compensation and workplace safety systems, to workers compensation premium rating, and to the development of a vision statement and action program for workplace safety. The study tour was undertaken well within the budget approved by the President. By publishing the detailed report on the study tour as an appendix to the report, the committee is being open and accountable about the nature of the study tour. I suggest that any fair reader would conclude that the committee and the Parliament achieved real value for money from it, as have all committees that have had study tours in the many years I have been in the Parliament.
I would also like to thank the staff of the committee secretariat for its work in the preparation of the report, and for its assistance during the course of the inquiry. The secretariat consists of Mr David Blunt, director, who drafted the report and was generally responsible for the conduct of the inquiry; Ms Vicki Mullen, senior project officer; and Ms Phillipa Gately, who formatted the report and provided essential administrative support throughout the inquiry. Mention should also be made of Ms Louise McSorley, who was the senior project officer of the committee on the subject from June 1997 to February 1998, and who is now a senior adviser to WorkCover in the Australian Capital Territory. Ms McSorley drafted the committee’s interim report of December 1997 and the issues paper of February 1998.
Again I thank Ms Fiona Cameron, my researcher, for her constant assistance to me. I would also like to thank my fellow members of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for the considered and constructive manner in which they have approached the inquiry. The committee has operated, as most parliamentary committees do, in a non-partisan manner throughout the inquiry. Once again, every one of the 29 recommendations contained in the report has the unanimous support of all committee members.
This will be one of the last occasions on which I will speak in this Chamber. It is only natural that, as one approaches the end of one’s parliamentary service, one contemplates one’s achievements and how one might be remembered. I can think of no better way to conclude my service to the Chamber than by tabling this report. There are few subjects as important or as close to the heart of the Labor movement and the Australian Labor Party, of which I have been a member for 48 years, as workplace safety.
It is my fervent hope that the recommendations will be implemented swiftly and that they will be effective in addressing the completely unacceptable toll of workplace death, injury and disease. The committee is confident that the Government will meet the challenge. We are delighted, in fact, that the Government has launched a community awareness campaign to raise the profile of
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workplace safety. There are other encouraging signs as well.
Increased penalties for breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and increased enforcement activity are driving the workplace safety message home to some indifferent employers. Under the provisions of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act, the key stakeholders will now have real ownership of not only the workers compensation system but also workplace safety regulations. This report commends these reforms and seeks to build upon them.
Debate adjourned on motion by the Hon. B. H. Vaughan.