WHS Officers and PCBUs
The latest offering from the Safety Nerd:
Are you an “Officer” – of the LAW?
Posted on September 22, 2011 by The Safety Nerd
Pre harmonisation there was a liability on people who own or manage an organisation or business – attributed liability which could be CEOs, Senior Managers or even Line Managers. If prosecuted defences could be that you were either not in a position of influence in relation to the breach, or you used all due diligence to prevent the breach. You had to prove one of these and you were guilty until proven otherwise.
We will get to the definition of an officer in a minute. What is interesting here is that under these new laws an Officer of a PCBU may be convicted or found guilty of an offence regardless of if the PCBU has been convicted. This is big news ladies and gentlemen! Officers will need to show leadership in health and safety and in particular in the organisations health and safety performance and Officers will need to prove that they have taken steps to ensure the organisation has complied with and continues to comply with its legal obligations.
READ MORE HERE
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below