WHS Harmonisation Update

Another great post by the Safety Nerd:

Where the bloody hell are you?

Posted on December 3, 2011 by The Safety Nerd

Okay, so there was a lot of who-ha relating to the rush to the starting blocks being 1^st January 2011 for these new WHS laws, but quite a few of the states at the eleventh hour are now saying ‘hold up, we are not ready!’, whereas other states have said ‘here we come, ready or not!’.

So….who’s on the band wagon to commence 1^stJanuary 2012? The Commonwealth, NSW, Queensland, ACT* and NT.

Those that aren’t starting 1^st January 2012 include:

Tassie who has deferred for 12 months
WA hasn’t introduced the law in parliament yet so it’s unsure if the deferment will be 12 months, longer or shorter, but this may be clarified when WorkSafe WA hold a forum in the first 2 weeks in December.
VIC also hasn’t introduced the law in parliament yet, and are stating and 12 months deferral should be sufficient.
South Australia will continue to debate this issue when they resume Valentines Day 2012, but they have mentioned that they are keen to commence next year some time, so it may be March or July as they still have a few subjects to debate over proposed amendments.
*ACT is anticipating commencing 1^stJanuary 2012, but have a default date of 29^th March 2012 if all else fails.

Those states that are giving themselves extra time must be aware that if you work, design, manufacturer or supply anything to states that are running with the new laws 1^st Jan 2011 may find themselves having to cover the new laws to comply in the states they are servicing, in particular the due diligence requirements.

So, if you’re in the fast lane, the slow lane or the pit stop, end of the day the finishing line is in sight, keep an eye out for my next blog on system compliance with the WHS laws and what you should be doing to prepare, because ‘ready or not, here it comes!’

The Safety Nerd x

(The Safety Nerd conducts harmonisation gap analysis’ to businesses across Australia – 0411 750 323)

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Who is the Safety Nerd?

Safety Nerd

Owner and Principal Consultant at Riskology

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I’ve been in safety my whole career. Well nearly my whole career, I started off as a secretary for a recruitment company, then dabbled in HR whilst stumbling onto safety, which I fell head over heels ….literally in love (I know safety nerd alert) with safety after reading the book Lessons from Longford by Anthony Hopkins at the age of 19 and haven’t looked back since. I had a few friends that had been permanently injured in their early 20s and my Dad nearly lost his foot in a workplace accident when I was a twinkle in his eye and the Lessons from Longford book made so much sense to me. I started my life in safety knee high to a grasshopper working for Aristocrat in the 90’s, a gaming machine company in Sydney where I introduced national safety handbooks, alerts, industry focus groups and decided this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life; during this time I also headed off to Uni and completed an MBA specialising in industrial relations, the closest qualification at the time related to safety, since then there’s been an explosion of courses so I then got my teeth into a masters of safety. I then went onto a safety role at Coca Cola Amatil and tackled the logistics of ensuring multiple sites were compliant from call centres to sales to manufacturing workers. This was an interesting time when new manufacturing plants were opening and becoming fully automated, never a dull moment in the world of safety. I’m a bit of a car buff so then moved into a safety role at Inchcape, you know the guys that own Subaru. I was looking after the safety for 45 sites and came up with some great strategies to get them all confident and running with safety. After saving my employers in total over $1.5million in workers comp and setting up some great strategies I decided to jump ship and moved away from the big smoke for love. That was a couple of years ago now and that’s when Riskology was born. I love helping other businesses create safer workplaces helping them through the minefield of legislation with simple easy solutions with the end goal of making workplaces safer. The safety industry has changed significantly in recent years, with new legislation and tougher penalties. Small businesses are expected to comply just as much as large businesses, that’s where I come in, helping to bridge the gap and cut through the jargon. Safety doesn’t have to be the elephant in the room, good safety practices is good for business. Qualifications Master’s degree in Occupational Health and Safety Master’s degree in Business Industrial Relations Accredited Lead Auditor Graduate Certificate Health and Safety Management Systems Cert IV – Workplace Training, OHS, HR(and Dip), Secretarial