Carr Govt Commits $13m To Safety

The Carr Labor Government has committed $13 million over three years to help put last year’s Bathurst Safety Summit recommendations into action.

Some 132 recommendations were made at the summit, with unions, employers and safety experts setting industry safety targets for each major employment sector.

At the launch last week of its industrial relations policy, the NSW Government also touted a number of workplace safety achievements already made, including setting up a Workplace Fatalities Investigation Unit with specialist criminal law experts to examine workplace deaths and contribute to police investigations.

It says there has also been a reduction in disputes about payments of benefits. Some 75% of injured of injured workers are now paid benefits within seven days of notifying an injury - up from 53% previously.

Other initiatives included in Labor's Industrial Relations policy include:

• Expanding the YouthSafe project into TAFE colleges and primary schools;
• Establishing a new Safer Towns and Cities Program. The program will bring together local employers, community leaders, unions and government agencies to showcase practical workplace and community safety initiatives in regional centres;
• Developing occupational health and safety guidelines to apply to all call centres across NSW, aimed at protecting workers in the emerging industry; and
• Pressing the Commonwealth to ratify outstanding International Labor Organisation Conventions on occupational health and safety, asbestos, chemicals, air pollution, noise, and child labour.

Labor's industrial relations policy also has a range of initiatives to boost the WorkCover scheme, including:

• Requiring insurers to more actively support injured workers back to good health, aiming for a 10% improvement in return to work rates by 2004/05;
• Providing tailored assistance to unemployed injured workers by using employment agencies that specialize in placing people with disabilities and long term unemployed people back in the workforce; and
• Making better use of health professionals such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, and general practitioners when developing return to work duties.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST