Page 1127 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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I hope that this is not a trend for the Government. I know that it is in some difficulty in bringing legislation into the Assembly, as has been proven by the lack of business on the notice paper; but it is something which we are concerned about and we will continue to raise it. That aside, Mr Speaker, we will be supporting the legislation which has been presented by the Government.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (10.38): Mr Speaker, the Government welcomes the support of the Opposition on this important Bill. I would like to make a few comments about the Review Authority aspects of the Bill. The Occupational Health and Safety Act 1989, which was one of the very first pieces of legislation enacted by this Assembly, aims to improve standards for occupational health and safety through a number of methods. Two means of achieving the goal that that Act sets out to achieve are via the roles of the occupational health and safety representatives in individual workplaces - the employee is selected by other employees at the site - and the enforcement agency, which comprises the inspectors and the advisers of the ACT Occupational Health and Safety Office.
The Review Authority, in the form of the Industrial Relations Commission, and outlined in the amendment Bill which is being presented here today, ensures that the system operates without fear or favour. It allows a full and independent review of decisions made under the Act. Health and safety representatives may issue provisional improvement notices to the employer if they identify hazards in their work sites. These notices, of course, are part of the hazard prevention strategy.
If the safety representative believes, on reasonable grounds, that a person is contravening, or is likely to contravene, a provision of the Act, the notice may require that person to rectify certain matters. The issuing of such a notice should be done only after consultation with the employer, and should allow adequate time for the employer to rectify the hazard. However, the employer may not agree with such a notice, and obviously may feel that there is an issue which ought to be properly canvassed outside or beyond the process which has so far ensued. That employer may, under the provisions of this Bill, call the inspector in to advise on the applicability of the notice to the particular circumstances. If either the employer or the employee disagrees with the inspector's decision, there is recourse in turn to appeal to the Review Authority created by the amending Bill.
So, there are a number of stages, Mr Speaker, through which parties might go before they end up at the appeal stage before the Review Authority. The Bill establishes the details of the system so that employers and employees are aware of how the appeal mechanism works and their rights to utilise it. Therefore it makes an important contribution to the earlier legislation passed by the Assembly.
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