Australasian Mine Safety

Australasian Mine Safety Autumn 2011

Australasian Mine Safety is the leading voice for all key decision makers within Mining company's and major contractors. Delivering the latest industry news as it breaks.

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OHS HARMONISATION HE PATH TO SECURING A SAFER WORKPLACE FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS The impact the model work health and safety laws will have on the mining industry will depend on how work health and safety is currently legislated in each jurisdiction, writes Rex Hoy. Safe Work Australia is the principal national organisation driving policy development in work health and safety with the aim of achieving the best possible approach to health and safety for all Australian workers. Safe Work Australia represents a partnership between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Australian Industry Group. Effectively managing work health and safety issues not only ensures a safer workplace for all Australians, but has a very significant effect on performance and productivity. The estimated total economic cost of work- related injuries and illnesses to Australia’s economy is $57.5 billion. This represents just less than six per cent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product. All states, territories and the Commonwealth are responsible for making and enforcing their own work health and safety laws. Although these draw on a similar approach for regulating workplaces, there are some differences in the application and detail of the laws. It is the inconsistency of the laws that makes regulating work health and safety standards across Australia difficult. This issue has been addressed by the Council of Australian Governments through the signing of an Intergovernmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Occupational Health and Safety (IGA), which commits the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to harmonising work health and safety laws. This regulatory reform is particularly important to the mining industry where the incidence rate of work-related injuries and fatalities is one of the highest of all Australia industries, with 2395 workers’ compensation claims in 2008-09. Through the IGA, Safe Work Australia has developed the Model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act, which was endorsed by the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council in 2009. The model WHS Act along with model Regulations and Codes of Practice 40 AUSTRALASIAN MINE SAFETY JOURNAL will be implemented across all jurisdictions by 1 January 2012. The impact that the model work health and safety laws will have on the mining industry will depend on how work health and safety is currently legislated in each jurisdiction. If mining is currently covered by the principal work health and safety legislation in a state or territory, then the model work health and safety laws will be applicable. For those jurisdictions where health and safety in the mining industry are covered by industry specific laws, a separate harmonisation process is being undertaken by the National Mine Safety Framework (NMSF). Safe Work Australia released draft model WHS Regulations, priority model Codes of Practice, an Issues Paper and Consultation Regulation Impact Statement for public comment in December 2010. These documents are open for public comment until 4 April 2011. Of the draft model WHS Regulations those relating to mining safety are still under development in conjunction with the NMSF. A draft of these mining Regulations will be released for public comment in the coming months. Mining is one of the high-risk industries for work health and safety in Australia. The Mining industry employed 168,800 people in 2008-09, representing two per cent of the Australian workforce. In 2008-09, the mining industry accounted for two per cent of all serious workers’ compensation claims. This equates to seven employees each day requiring one or more weeks off work because of work-related injury or disease. The incidence rate of serious claims in the mining industry has fallen 35 per cent, from 30 claims per 1000 employees in 2000-01 to 19 in 2007-08. This is still higher than the rate for all industries of 14 claims per 1000 employees in 2007-08. There were 12 fatalities recorded in the preliminary data for 2008-09 which is an increase of seven fatalities in the previous year. As a result of this increase the mining industry recorded the third-highest fatality rate of 7.4 fatalities per 100,000 employees in 2008-09, which is more than three times the rate for all industries of 2.3. These statistics demonstrate the importance of all work health and safety professionals and other stakeholders taking the opportunity the public comment process provides to help shape the model laws into a regulatory framework. This will ensure that businesses and workers can understand these laws and they are effective in improving work health and safety outcomes. Safe Work Australia will be developing a national compliance and enforcement policy to ensure a consistent approach in the way regulators’ administer and enforce the new laws. When the harmonised work health and safety laws are in place across Australia,

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