Unions are accusing the Western Australian Government of putting its workers's in a second rate safety state, by ignoring the harmonisation of the OHS laws.
Australian Council Trade Unions President Ged Kearney said workers in WA should have the same OHS standards and protections as in other states and territories, but would be left behind by the Barnett Government’s stubborn refusal to join the new uniform OHS system that will begin on 1 January.
Kearney presented a petition to Opposition Leader Eric Ripper on behalf of workers calling for the strongest possible health and safety laws in WA.
The petition will be tabled in parliament shortly, it contained more than 2000 signatures, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ged Kearney said West Australian workers and their families deserve the same standard of workplace safety as workers in the rest of Australia.
"It makes no sense for WA to have lower standards and protections than the rest of the nation,” he said.
Kearney said a WA worker was killed almost every two weeks, while someone was seriously injured at work every 30 minutes, yet the State Government’s refusal to legislate for safety showed a complete lack of value for their lives.
The WA Government is yet to release its draft harmonisation legislation but has stated it will not sign up to five key points of the new national laws, including an increase in the maximum penalty for negligent employers to $3 million.
Kearney said WA should sign up to an OHS system which:
• Allows trained Health and Safety Representatives to direct work to stop when they see a serious and imminent safety problem
• Protects workers from discrimination for raising health and safety issues
• Enables the family or union of someone killed at work to initiate a prosecution against the employer if the state WorkSafe authority declines to
• Enables workers’ union representatives to have timely access to a workplace to provide important advice when it is needed
This follows Senator Evans urging Victorian and Western Australian Government’s to honour their commitment to implement these reforms by 1 January 2012.
“These reforms will make Victoria and Western Australia safer and businesses more productive,” he said.
It was reported WA will not move on the new laws until the Federal Government provides further details, particularly on the potential impact to small business.