A policy position introduced late last year by WorkSafe to make employers’ compliance information available to union officials on request has backfired.Last August, WorkSafe Victoria advised employer associations and unions that they will commence making copies of Inspector’s Entry Reports and Notices (i.e. Improvement and Prohibition Notices) to ‘interested parties’ on request. WorkSafe advised that […]

The total number of OHS prosecutions undertaken by WorkSafe Victoria in 2017 outstripped all other OHS regulators across Australia combined. WorkSafe prosecuted 104 employers across all industries last year. 35 of those prosecutions were related to the construction industry. Of those 35 construction prosecutions, 12 related to incidents in the commercial sector and 16 in […]

Just weeks after a Federal Court judge criticised two Victorian CFMEU officials for deliberately placing themselves in dangerous positions and being “arrogant and dismissive” of warnings that were given by site staff a CFMEU safety officer has deliberately placed himself in danger in order to take photos of a builder’s site. Last Thursday, CFMEU safety […]

By Natasha Jager, National Manager Workplace Services, Alcohol and Drug Foundation Alcohol and drug misuse accounts for 11.5 million ‘sick’ days every year in Australia. The ‘presenteeism’ effect, where you are experiencing the effects of a hangover or coming down from a drug (feeling fatigued or not thinking clearly), is costing businesses a lot more. […]

During 2016/17, the Premium Compliance branch of WorkSafe Victoria commenced a project focussed on ensuring that employers in the housing construction industry were correctly determining whether the contractors they engaged were independent contractors, or whether they should be treated as workers of the employer for the purposes of WorkCover premium. WorkSafe selected the bricklaying, plastering […]