Page 5711 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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said in this place a number of times, everyone who goes to work in the morning has a right to return in the same condition to their family in the evening or, if they are shift workers, at the end of their shift. And our legislative framework should support that for individual workers.
The ACT has fared very well with its record on occupational health and safety. The incidence of serious claims dropped 22 per cent between the years 2003-04 and 2006-07. However, we are committed to ensuring that workers in the ACT continue to be protected by robust OH&S laws.
As Ms Bresnan said, safety in the workplace is a joint effort. It requires all people to be aware of their responsibilities. It requires employers, workers and employee organisations to work cooperatively to ensure a safe workplace. It requires that safety measures are continually reviewed to ensure that work safety standards take account of changes in technology and work practices.
On 1 October this year, a new Work Safety Act and Work Safety Regulation came into force. These laws provide the ACT with the most modern set of work safety laws that reflect the realities of working and doing business in the territory. This Work Safety Act introduced the best practice regulation and ensured that all territory workers, regardless of their working arrangement, are protected by law.
The Work Safety Act also provided the framework for continuous improvement. It provided a framework for the government to address emerging risks to the health and safety of workers, such as occupational violence, bullying, stress and fatigue. In introducing the Work Safety Act, the government has struck a delicate balance: on the one hand, doing everything possible to secure the health, safety and wellbeing of workers and, on the other hand, giving business owners the tools to protect their workers without unduly impacting on the operation of their business.
In developing the Work Safety Act, the government undertook extensive public consultation and of course was guided by detailed advice from the Work Safety Council. An exposure draft of the legislation was released for six weeks of community consultation in 2008, and an exposure draft of the associated regulation was released for public consultation earlier this year.
As members would also be aware, the Work Safety Council is a tripartite body comprised of industry, worker and community representatives that has been established to advise the government on health and safety issues. I understand that would have been the Occupational Health and Safety Council, renamed. The council made a wide range of recommendations relating to the OH&S Act, including that it should be repealed and new legislation developed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank council members, past and present, for their work on the development of this act.
As members would also be aware, there is a national harmonisation process going on through the work that COAG has commissioned. The harmonisation of occupational health and safety laws is part of the seamless national economy partnership. In fact, I am going to a meeting tomorrow in Melbourne of workplace relations ministers and this is the item that is on the agenda for discussion. The aim is to have model, uniform
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