I can see the secretion from the lips of those parasitic vermin who chase ambulances with the hope of extracting their next BMW payment as they peruse the new legislation and determine their interpretation of the changes to Section 28 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act.

Prior to February 1 this year, Section 28 of the Act “Obligations of the Employer” stated simply:

An employer has an obligation to ensure the workplace health and safety of each of the employers workers at work.

Now it states, as of February 1 2005:

An employer has an obligation to ensure each of the employer’s workers is not exposed to risks to their health and safety arising out of the conduct of the employer’s business or undertaking.

The salivary glands of those “no win, no pay” solicitors must have gone into overdrive as 99% of the industry haven’t got their heads around what these new changes mean either to them personally or to their company. Section 28 has just become a de facto solicitors’ superannuation plan.

Before you employers start pulling out the blunt razor blades and doing away yourselves there is an alternative to expensive and protracted legal arguments, sky-rocketing workers compensation and dwindling profit margins.

The BLF has taken the proactive step of establishing an advisory safety unit as a consultative body to work closely with developers, principal contractors, employers and workers to identify and facilitate appropriate strategies to avoid safety issues arising from potentially dangerous work practices.

Subcontractors must now make an investment in their own future if they are to negate the possibility of future legal action by these unscrupulous solicitors taking advantage of the new changes to the law.

The investment we seek is one our union has believed in and promoted for many years with more than 600 safety reps now trained.

Subcontractors must engage these workers as their representatives on site, to monitor and review work practices that may expose the subbies to the new law.

The Advisory Safety Unit will strive to assist builders and their subcontractors to implement strategies guide site consultative committees and their safety representatives to achieve similar outcomes.

The consequence is that every one wins. Accident and injury is substantially reduced and, where possible, minimised to the point where all workers in the industry are safe from harm at work.

The future of managing OH&S lies on the shoulders of the subcontractors in our industry – at least until the law changes to give principal contractors greater responsibility- and I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

On site trained and elected safety reps of individual subcontractors collectively monitoring and reviewing their company’s work procedures and documenting any deficiencies so they can be rectified through a toolbox meeting or other consultative arrangement.

Should all subcontractors adopt the above strategy, safety committee meetings would become the legitimate forum to effectively administer WH&S rather than the farce which our industry endures today whereby workers are sat down or removed from areas which don’t comply with the principal contractor’s work plan or the subcontractor’s work procedure. Should our industry not move forward and embrace the above strategy the only thing subbies can look forward to is higher workers compensation claims and premiums and dwindling profit margins.

Recent prosecutions that were publicly reported highlight two of our most well-known subcontractors.

Firstly, Seca Cranes and Rigging was fined $30,000 after a dogman was injured at a Maroochydore construction site.

The company failed to identify hazards associated with the formwork; failed to provide induction training on its use; and didn’t implement any control measures or adopt a risk management program.

Seca has now taken the proactive view to train seven of their employees as safety reps so a consultative process can start within their company.

The second, and more devastating incident involved Brisbane-based Mulherin Rigging and Cranes. The company was fined $55,000 and ordered to pay $3000 investigation and administration costs when they pleaded guilty to breaches of the Act after one of their employees fell to his death at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.

No company goes out knowingly to hurt one of their employees, though in both of these examples the tragedy and the injury may have been averted through the simple monitoring and reviewing of work procedures by a site safety rep.

Over the next few weeks and months the Construction Safety Advisory Unit will conduct audits of workplaces assess compliance of:

- Walkway and access lighting
- Lighting to general work areas
- Emergency evacuation lighting
- Fire precautions
- Housekeeping
- Work at heights
- Emergency evacuation procedure
- Scaffold audit

These are areas where workers and safety reps believe compliance is very poor. This is a proactive audit to highlight to principal contractors and employers where WH&S can be improved.

You can obtain a copy of the audit from the BLF office or the Master Builders