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Looking for a little light reading to kick off your long weekend? From the appeals process to updated fact sheets, check out the latest issue of @WCB_Alberta Worksight magazine: #WorkplaceSafety #SafetyFirst #WorkSafe #OHS #WCB

The Victorian Trades Hall Council is currently surveying Health and Safety Representatives (HSR's) ahead of the announcement of the appointment of an 'independent' reviewer to undertake a review of Part 8 of the OHS Act (ARREO) and the powers of HSR's. HSR's are a reflection of union representation in Victoria and can be found in mostly unionsied workplaces (less than ten percent). In small businesses, and in non-unionised industries, HSR's are few and far between. The Trades Hall survey is unsurprisingly loaded. The review will undoubtedly result in increased union power through both ARREO and HSR's. A 'holy grail' wishlist item for the unions in Victoria, which will also likely form part of the review, is for the OHS Act to provide duties for managers and supervisors. This is an issue that the unions and WorkSafe Victoria have raised repeatedly over the last two decades. The review will most likely seek to rubberstamp this change to the Act, delivering the unions what they want. The OHS Act and Regulations that provide for OHS Issue Resolution provide that where an employer has an Issue Resolution Procedure, and nominates a management representative for the purpose of that procedure, that the person nominated must have sufficient seniority and also be competent (i.e. by WorkSafe's definition at least same training as a HSR - 5 days training). The unions want every person that is in a managerial or supervisory capacity to have specific legal duties and for there to be mandatory requirements for training for all of these persons. The unions argue that every manager and supervisor should be as knowledgable as the HSR. The creation of OHS duties for managers and supervisors would be wielded as a weapon by the unions, used to intimidate managers and supervisors to drive their industrial agendas with the threat of workplace manslaughter or criminal charges that would apply to them as individuals. The primary employer duty under the Act already provides the responsibility on their employer to provide adequate supervision. There is no legislative gap. The introduction of mandatory training for all managers and supervisors would cost Victorian employers hundred of millions of dollars. When this issue was first raised by WorkSafe years ago, when I was first at VACC, the Head of their IR Team, Kevin Redfern gave me some outstanding advice - "Never do anything that your members will not thank you for!" Will industry bodies sell their members out in the hope of generating millions of training revenue from mandatory training or will they get together with the other Associations that are members of the Victorian Congress of Employer Associations (VCEA) to fight this before it becomes a recommendation for change of the Act? When the review is announced make sure that your Association acts in your best interests, not theirs.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely... spoon fed power corrupts even more! Taking absolutely nothing away from the brilliance of Nick McKenzie, Ben Schneiders and David Marin-Guzman in their expose on the infiltration of bikies and underworld figures into the industry the most interesting outcome is the number of times the expression "everyone already knew" or words to that effect were been uttered since. What they don't know, without questioning their brilliance as journalists, is the detail of IR/OHS law and the role that these laws play in embedding the bikies and criminals into the industry. But what did everyone know? Well, probably a hell of a lot more than I am talking to in this post, but here are some things that that industry definitely knows. - Occupational Health and Safety laws (and equivalent WHS) have been the key ingredient that the CFMEU has used to inflitrate the industry. - They have done so with the support of complicit Labor Government's that have enabled the misuse of OHS right of entry powers and powers of (un)elected Health and Safety Representatives to facilitate wide spread industrial relations chaos not only on their Government/Tax payer funded projects, but across the entire industry. - CFMEU appointed delegates on construction sites (let's be clear that they are not elected) automatically assume the position of Health and Safety Representative (let's be clear they are not properly elected as per the OHS Act) and immediately take on and abuse (i.e. unlawfully apply) a power of stopping work on a whim to drive their industrial and/or criminal agendas. - OHS Regulators (i.e State Governments) know fully well the difference between elected HSR's, as per the Act, and also of the CFMEU's appointment of thugs/bikies as HSR's. - Abuse of health and safety was a feature of the 2002 Cole Royal Commission. A completely seperate section of the final report was deliberately carved out to deal with health and safety. It use as an industrial relations weapon has never changed. And just think that in just a few days time (i.e. 29 July 2024) HSR's in Queensland will have an arbitrary power that has been gifted to them by the QLD Guvament which will enable them to be able to stop work whenever they want to. And the Victorian Government is already contemplating amending the OHS Act to increase the powers of HSR's and union officials to misuse and abuse their powers to an even greater extent. This is not just about corrupt unions, it is about the corrupt Governments that have actually facilitated the CFMEU's takeover of the industry. Sometimes the detail behind a story can be buried much deeper than the story itself! Now where is my Walkley Award!

The July/August issue of Health & Safety Review will be published NEXT WEEK. Some of the big news stories and articles to look out for include: ·       Health and Safety Authority (HSA) annual report: read and learn. ·       Ibec toolkit on workplace aggression and violence. ·       What to expect when a safety inspector calls. ·       Court awards falling after guidelines, says State Claims Agency (SCA). ·       Challenging targets set by revised Buildings Energy Directive. ·       Government proposes reforms of EPA licence system. ·       Local authority successfully defends ‘tree root’ pavement fall claim. ·       Family farm tragedy boy awarded €3.5m. ·       “I’ve seen a lot of changes” – ESB safety specialist, Séamus Finn. ·       SCA report on the true cost of employee injury claims. If you or your team are responsible for health & safety at your workplace or in your community and would like to stay informed on all the latest news and developments across health, safety, wellbeing and the environment you should really consider subscribing to HSR as we are Ireland’s leading journal on these issues as they affect the workplace. To visit our website or subscribe now please visit healthandsafetyreview.ie You can contact me at [email protected] if you have any queries about our service. #occupationalhealthandsafety #claims #courtawards #safetyinspectors #farmsafety #workplaceaggression #workplaceviolence #hsa #epa #esb

Join us for a FREE webinar on March 21st and dive into the intricate compliance requirements of the Service Contract Act with our industry experts. Gain insights on applicability, calculating health and welfare, and managing vacation and holiday benefits for part-time employees. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding of SCA compliance and earn 1 CPE credit. Register soon to secure your spot > https://hubs.la/Q02pZV370 Presenters: Jamie Brabston and Sheri Buchanan #govcon #webinar #HR #SCA #Compliance #training

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA 1974), which remains the umbrella legislation that underpins all legal health & safety requirements for both employers and employees in the UK. The team and I are currently reviewing any changes to legislation that might apply to us and to our industry allowing us to make any necessary changes to our plans, policies or procedures. #thameswater #lanesgroup #healthandsafety #legislation #iosh

Doth thy offend thee? Let me count the ways! So Victorian Minister Sonia Kilkenny referred the complaints from the concrete business on to the Industrial Relations Minister, Tim Pallas. Why? And what happened then? The business reported that the CFMEU were entering their workplace and hindering their operations on the basis of illegitimate safety grounds. That would be an offence under Section 91(a) of the OHS Act. The business specifically advised the Ministers that the officials were ignoring findings frrom WorkSafe that here were no safety issues, again OHS right of entry and hindering and obstructing. Intimidating staff Section 91(b). Telling workers to stop work 91(a). Putting video footage onto their social media platforms Sections 91(c) and (ca). Why did the IR Minister, Tim Pallas not refer thse matters to WorkSafe for an investigation for breaches of the OHS Act 2004? If the union officials did not hold State or federal permits - Sections 91(d) or 94. Why has there not been one single prosecution of the CFMEU for breaches of the OHS Act since the Act was introduced? Why were these matters not reffered to WorkSafe as the appropriate regulatory agency to deal with the breaches as they arose on the back of safety issues? As they were safety breaches there was no basis for referral to the FW Commission.

WorkSafe Victoria releases a document about evaluating the effectiveness of work health and safety interventions and programs. https://lnkd.in/gBFpF3s8 #WHS #OHS WorkSafe Victoria

🎓 This is a CPD article with reflective questions. The QNMU welcomes amendments to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) that build upon Queensland’s nation-leading work health and safety (WHS) framework and strengthen health and safety for Queenslanders where they work. The Bill gives effect to substantial legislative recommendations made by the independent 2022 review of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Final Report), as well as a number of recommendations from the 2018 National Review of the model work health and safety laws (the Boland Review). The QNMU, alongside other unions and workers, have long advocated for many of these changes to ensure workers are protected by robust and contemporary work health and safety laws, that put workers safety first. 🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/3zkNtSs

Splitting TIPS to agency staff… The new tipping bill legislation which comes into effect on the 1st of July this year, will make it unlawful for businesses to hold back service charge from their employees, insuring staff receive the tips they have earned. This will also include agency workers in the tip distribution. However, there is a worry this is going to cause significant administrative difficulties and reduced tips for the contracted workers, but this is not the case. At grtfl® we have created a platform and are working in a consultative manner alongside the businesses needs to ensure there is little to no impact on current contracted staff and the amount of admin that you are going to have to deal with as a business. We also understand that this is a very daunting time and what we don’t want it to do is impact your current workload and cause concern as we move towards the changing legislation. If you have any questions or concerns around how this is going to impact your business, drop me a message. I’m more than happy to chat with you and go through it in a bit more detail. Thank you for the tag Simon Elliott! Matthew Chestnutt Mason Potter #tips #tippingculture #hospitalityexcellence #hospitalitytech #culturefirst #culturechange #restaurantindustry #restauranttips #employeeappreciation #employeebenefits #employeerecognition #hospitalityleaders