SERIOUS INJURY AND DEATH IN THE WORKPLACE
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: On Tuesday 9 November I attended the Electricity Supply Industry Safety Practitioners Conference at the Penrith Panthers Club and spoke about the recent inquiry and report of General Purpose Standing Committee No. 1 into serious injury and death in the workplace. The issue of workplace injury and death is something I have lived with for 25 years in my working life at the Wesley Mission, where there are more than 3,000 full-time staff and 3,500 part-time staff. I am profoundly aware of the daily occupational health and safety risks faced by workers in all walks of life.
The conference attendees were vitally interested in the committee’s recommendations. I express my thanks to Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile, who was the chairman of General Purpose Standing Committee No. 1 during the inquiry into serious injury and death in the workplace. I reported to the conference that while the committee’s inquiry focused largely on the building and construction industry, the committee also examined the road transport industry, the agriculture industry, and industries covered by the National Union of Workers, including retail and manufacturing industries. The inquiry is a good example of an inquiry in which, despite strongly held views and some differences of opinion, committee members and also stakeholders, including both unions and employer groups, adopted a collaborative approach to examining the issues and making constructive recommendations.
The conference was most interested to hear about the case studies that enabled the committee to really come to terms with the true impact of serious injury and death in the workplace. One case study concerned Mr Joel Exner, a 16-year-old apprentice roofer who was killed in 2003 when he fell several metres through a roof at the Australand Holdings Ltd site at Eastern Creek. It was only his third day on the job. The conference took interest in a number of important recommendations aimed at improving WorkCover’s liaison with victims and their families. I am pleased to note that WorkCover is now taking steps to improve its liaison with those affected by workplace accidents. WorkCover has completed and publicly released the guidelines for liaising with families of deceased accident victims. I received a very good hearing on this point, with members of the conference wholeheartedly supporting the committee’s recommendations.
As part of its inquiry the committee examined the scope of current criminal law in New South Wales that applies to fatalities resulting from serious breaches of occupational health and safety laws. Members may recall that the committee recommended the establishment of a new crime of industrial manslaughter. The committee heard that there had not been a successful prosecution for manslaughter where the death occurred in a workplace situation, and it discussed a number of detailed legal reasons for this lack of success.
At about the time the committee’s inquiry commenced, the Minister for Commerce, the Hon. John Della Bosca, appointed a panel of eminent legal practitioners to advise him on the occupational health and safety legal framework, particularly in relation to workplace facilities. The panel unanimously ruled out an industrial manslaughter offence under the Crimes Act, but instead recommended that an additional offence be inserted in the Occupational Health and Safety Act relating specifically to workplace fatalities. Last month the Minister released a draft consultation bill implementing the panel’s recommendations. In doing so, the Minister in his statement ruled out any proposals in relation to industrial manslaughter in New South Wales. The decision was met with profound disappointment on the part of safety practitioners.
The recovery of fines is the responsibility of the State Debt Recovery Office. WorkCover has no express statutory role in relation to the enforcement of court-imposed sanctions or the recovery of unpaid penalties. However, safety practitioners are strongly of the view that government agencies must work collaboratively to collect unpaid fines. Recently, following a WorkCover prosecution, the Industrial Relations Commission held, for the first time, that a truck driver’s truck is a place of work. In that case the driver’s employer faces fines of up to $55,000 for failing to provide safe working conditions. Safety practitioners strongly support this. The Electricity Supply Industry Safety Practitioners Conference congratulated this House and its members on the committee’s report and recommendations, and asked me to pass on its support and approval for a very good report. 11 November 2004.
