WH&S Due Diligence – Can you trust your advice?

Most Board Members, Directors, Business Owners and Managers would agree that Workplace Safety in Australia is subject to a high degree of legislation and regulation.  It is expected that persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU’s) no matter how big or small will go to great lengths to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their workers – or else risk fines, high insurance premiums or even prosecution.

With the harmonisation of WH&S legislation in this country has come to a greater emphasis on the obligations of officers of a corporation meeting their ‘due diligence’ obligations with regard to workplace health and safety.  It has never been acceptable for an employer to delegate their WH&S duty of care, but understandably employers and businesses rely on appointed persons within an organisation or external subject matter experts to provide guidance on how to successfully comply with workplace health and safety legislation and ensure the health and safety of workers.

How does an organisation ensure that this advice is reliable and correct?  Until now there has been little accountability in the WH&S field which is concerning given the potential costs and implications of incorrect or misleading advice.

Unfortunately, some organisations are still falling into the trap of the ‘bottoms on seats approach’ to WH&S.  This involves nominating a random employee to take responsibility for WH&S, sending them on a cheap online course, and assuming that the organisation is on track with meeting its WH&S compliance responsibilities.  This could not be further from the truth and puts the organisation in a precarious situation where they are taking WH&S guidance and advice from someone who has little experience and is quite often un-mentored.

As of January 2015, the Safety Institute of Australia is introducing a voluntary program where WH&S people can have qualifications and experience certified according to 5 membership grades (two of which are reserved for those undertaking studies).

Personally, I believe that this is an excellent initiative which will mean that in the future, businesses can ensure that WH&S people they recruit or seek advice from having the necessary skills, qualifications and experience in order to provide that advice.

At HR Business Direction we are able to provide advice and assist with your WH&S obligations.  Contact us here.

 

Christina Willcox MHSc; PostGradDip OHS; BBus(HRM)
Workplace Health & Safety Specialist
christina.willcox@hrbd.com.au
07 3890 2066
www.hrbd.com.au