Page 2565 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 October 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MRS CARNELL: We are talking about people who have 10 people on their payroll. That does not mean 10 people on the work floor at any time; we are talking about people on the payroll. That means that every little supermarket, with a person on the cash register and somebody stocking the shelves most of their time, will be covered by this. We are talking about doctors' surgeries. We are talking about accountants' offices which regularly will have 10 people on their payroll. That does not mean - may I stress it again - 10 people working at any one time. On the basis that it does not mean 10 people working together, and we are talking about somebody who will be - - -
Mr Lamont: There is even more need for a safety rep.
MRS CARNELL: When will the safety rep that Mr Lamont talks about interface with the staff? When will these people be able to impart their very extensive knowledge if there are only two or three people there at any time? The only constant person in most of these businesses is the owner-operator. That is the person who is there, usually seven days a week, 12 hours a day, regularly. Quite honestly, is any owner-operator in that circumstance going to place the staff who they rely on to feed their kids - let us be fair - in a dangerous position? The owner-operators are the ones who are in that environment substantially more often than any of their staff. Anybody who even looks at small retail operations, or alternatively the restaurants or all the other small operations that we see in Canberra that will now be covered, would know that it is just ridiculous to suggest that they are dangerous workplaces.
In fact, for the interest of the Assembly - I am sure that Mr Berry will not be even slightly interested - I will give the average figures for accidents. I am talking now about every accident, not just the ones that he reported. These are figures through the pharmacies, 76 small outlets in the ACT. Over the last two years 30 accidents have occurred. The vast percentage of those happened on the way to work or on the way home, and therefore would not be covered. Taking into account the on the way to work and on the way home accidents, that was 0.2 of an accident per year. You are suggesting that small operations should spend a couple of thousand dollars in training a staff member to overcome 0.2 of an accident. If it were possible to overcome 0.2 of an accident I would suggest that maybe we had some point here. But, as I said, the vast percentage of accidents happen on the way to work or on the way home.
Mr Berry: That is not true.
MRS CARNELL: I have them listed, one by one. Let us look at the sorts of other accidents. We have "Worker fainted and hit head". Quite seriously, I would love to know what could be done to overcome that problem.
Mr De Domenico: Teach them not to faint.
MRS CARNELL: Teach them not to faint, for sure.
Mr Connolly: You may think that is flippant, but it is not for the person who fainted.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .