Page 208 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 May 1989
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The first draft of an ordinance was released for comment in November 1988, and further discussions took place within the interim tripartite council. The comments of that group and other interested parties were taken into account in the drafting of the legislation which I now introduce.
I should make the point that there is nothing new or revolutionary in this legislation. The format of legislation is well established and follows a form derived from reforms in the UK in the early 1970s based on a report from a committee headed by Lord Robens. The key conclusion of the Robens report was that the greatest contributory factor to the appalling occupational health and safety record was workplace apathy.
For this reason the thrust of the legislation is to move away from rigid, inspectorial legislation towards encouraging workplace arrangements, with both workers and employers taking responsibility for their own safety arrangements.
Since Government will work in close cooperation with the industry partners, the legislation provides for the arrangements to be oversighted by a tripartite council which makes recommendations to the Minister on any matters necessary to improve the functioning of the legislation. The tripartite council will include representatives appointed by the Minister from employer nominees and from the trade union movement. It will report direct to me as Minister.
The legislation will apply to private sector employers, occupiers and employees and also to manufacturers, installers, suppliers and repairers of items used in ACT workplaces. Employers and others in workplaces already have a duty at common law to protect workers and others from hazards associated with their workplaces and system of work. This legislation translates this common law duty into a statutory duty and also requires employers to introduce new workplace health and safety arrangements to assist in making workplaces safe and healthy. The specific duties imposed on employers under the new legislation include insuring that the workplace and its equipment are safe and without risks to health, and that the system of work used is safe and without risks to health.
These duties of care are already imposed on employers under the common law. They are qualified duties of care in the sense that an employer must take reasonable steps to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees and to avoid exposing other people to health and safety risks arising from their industry. Employers are only liable for accidents which reasonable care could have prevented or foreseen.
The legislation also requires employers to implement special arrangements for their own work forces, namely, developing and issuing a workplace health and safety
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