The Safety Verdict (supported by Longton Blackwell)

In Episode 3 we look at safety and health shortcuts and the occurrence of injuries and incidents when easybeat employees have ‘Friday on their mind’. We also consider that in the words of Vanessa Amorosi that absolutely everybody has a separate safety role at a work site. We examine how attributed liability against the employer works to make the employer potentially liable for the employee oversight. Safety laws are usually strict liability, unless knowledge is a legal element of the offence, meaning intent is not necessary. Is this too onerous for employers? How do employers best minimise exposure? What are common scenarios where employers have exposure for turning a blind eye to poor work practices? Last we look at how prosecutors and inspectors consider who and whether to prosecute using ‘offence element tables or spreadsheets’. We use music references to illustrate our points.

In this episode we hand down our verdict on managing critical safety incidents as an employer. We discuss the compassionate management of safety incidents and the employers awareness of the communication channels to stakeholders - police, inspectors, coroner, workers, media, unions, and stockmarket. We look at the nature of WHS obligations contrasted and overlapping with negligence, workers compensation, human rights and employment law- 5 dimensions and how to converge obligations. We look at how WHS goes wrong - ‘acts or omissions’/failures. Andrew gives us some guitar strumming and Trajce has recorded our theme music. We look at multiple WHS laws in action for one incident Eg a bus crash - in Qld there 3 laws applicable. Also the fractured manslaughter map/jurisdictions in Australia. Neville notes the inconsistent exposure of project managers in the event of a fatality across different States in Australia.

The 3 lawyer amigos -Associate Professor Trajce Cvetkovski, Barrister at law Neville Weston and Longton Blackwell WHS Practice Leader Andrew Ross discuss the omnipresence (iron cage) and coverage of Australian WHS laws. It’s lively and conversational with some cultural references and guitars. We talk about WHS laws applying to a workplace, a workplace being a very broad concept. Recorded at ACU at Banyo Brisbane Australia. No advice given, only perspectives. Oh and Johnny Cash gets a mention.