EMPLOYERS MUST TAKE SAFETY RESPONSIBILITIES SERIOUSLY

2 September 2010

The recent focus on worker deaths due to unsafe workplaces should serve as a wake up call to employers that they must take their safety responsibilities seriously.

SA Unions says under the OHS&W Act, employers are expressly responsible for safety in the workplace.

SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says that means no cutting corners and no excuses.

"Employers must take notice of their responsibilities in this regard, and remind themselves of their duty of care under the Act.  The appalling photograph of worksite conditions at the desalination plant in today's Advertiser should send warnings to every employer in the state that unsafe working conditions are simply not acceptable and will not be tolerated."

"SA Unions is particularly pleased that a tough new penalty regime is now in place for employers who fail to provide safe working conditions, resulting in injuries and deaths."

"We have seen those new penalties applied in the recent judgments in relation to the Gladstone blast and the Moomba death."

"However, while tougher penalties are an incentive to ensure better standards, they don't bring back the dead", Ms Giles says.

"We need employers to move away from the mindset of profit ahead of safety.  We also need them to ensure high quality safety standards at all times, and not simply in response to a workplace inspection."

"The reality is we'll never have enough inspectors to monitor every work site, so we need employers to take the initiative and be responsible as a matter of course, instead of waiting until the industry watchdog barks at them", Ms Giles says.