OHS Harmonisation, Are You Ready?
It doesn’t matter what size business , association or organisation you are, if you engage people to perform a task in a profit or non profit business then you need to understand the new OHS harmonisation legislation. The introduction of the new legislation into every State and Territory based on the model harmonisation laws will provide nation wide consistency for OHS laws Australia wide. Do you know what to do to comply?
What is OHS Harmonisation
The Model OHS Harmonisation Act and Regulations were developed federally to provide a structure for harmonisation throughout Australia. The States and Territories are then required to mirror the model laws as far as possible and develop their own state based Act and Regulations, ready to be enforced the first of January 2012. The new OHS harmonisation legislation has a number of new elements and changes to existing laws, some elements have been renamed and moved, some have been deleted.
Call to Find Out How This Will Affect Your Business – 0408133771
Some Examples of the Changes
This is an example of some of the OHS Harmonisation changes that have wide ranging effects on business:
- 3 levels of classification for penalties, with Category 1 max fines at:
* Corporations $3 million dollars
* Individuals as PCBU’s or Officers / $600,000 and or 5 years jail
* Workers or others $300,000 and or 5 years jail - Duty on officers of a business (e.g. CEO’s) to exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU compliance.
- Duty to consult with workers, HSR’s, HSC’s and other persons on OHS matters that directly affect them.
- The definition of “Reasonably Practicable” is assigned to a Health and Safety duty.
- Businesses have a more defined shared health and safety duty, e.g. in the case of labour hire.
How Do I Ensure I’m Compliant?
You have several options to cover your OHS duty;
If you have the knowledge, skills and people resources you could develop and manage your safety management system inhouse to ensure you cover your legislative requirements.
If you don’t have the luxury of having these resources, you could engage the services of a OHS Safety Advisor to either provide the bulk of the input to develop a safety program and culture, or if you have some internal capability, utilise them to cover the knowledge or resources gap you may have with the additional value of an independent professional overseeing the activities.
