How safe is your workplace?

5th October 2011

 The video above is about workplace accidents. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.

MANDATORY occupational health and safety obligations are about to be thrust on business owners in the same way GST was in 2000.

In May, the Bligh Government introduced new legislation, the Work Health and Safety Bill 2011, which forms part of the national reform agenda, to provide consistent workplace laws across Australia.
The Commonwealth and each state and territory will be required to enact model laws by the end of December this year with the new laws set to start on January 1 next year.

Sunshine Coast chiropractor and OH&S consultant David Conboy has treated scores of Workcover patients in his 30 years of practice.He established OH&S World to help businesses cope with the new safety regulations which many owners know nothing about or are too busy running their business to even begin to contemplate.

He said the new laws applied to new and existing businesses and, with increased legal responsibilities and enforceable fines on the horizon, every owner had to attend to occupational health and safety matters. "Record keeping is mandatory under the new OH&S laws, which now include labour hire, contractors and sub-contractors and our preferred software takes care of all that," Dr Conboy said.


But Dr Conboy also realised more could be done to ensure every Australian worker had the right to come home safely."Instead of treating injured workers, why not help prevent the injury in the first place," he said. "Businesses can outsource their occupational health and safety consulting to OH&S World, eliminating the expense of educating a staff member to Certificate IV OHS level and then run the risk of them leaving their employment and taking their skills elsewhere."While you run your business, we will take care of issues like hazard identification, safety risk management, job safe analysis, safe work procedures, hazardous chemicals, emergency procedures and workplace inductions, while taking into consideration the workplace codes of practice."

Dr Conboy said either unsafe work practices or not completing the required documentation, put businesses at risk of copping heavy fines."Inspectors can pay a visit at any given time and you must be seen to be moving forward in the process," he said. "There will be particular emphasis on certain industries by the Queensland government in 2012."And to win tenders and to be hired by others, your business also needs to be compliant."




BE SAFE! GET MORE INFORMATION HERE:

www.ohsworld.com.au, including a graphic video, ABOVE, of how easily workplace accidents can happen. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.

www.worksafeaustralia.com.au for information on the new laws.