Feds Take Axe To Safety

Workers and bosses have joined forces to slam a move by the Federal Government to abolish a peak national workplace safety body.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews announced last week that the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) would be pared back to become a "ministerial advisory group".

The 18-member body, made up of employer, union and government representatives, coordinates campaigns to prevent workplace death, injury and disease and is staffed by public service researchers.

"With 13 workers dying in Victoria just this year the Federal Government's move to abolish NOHSC is tantamount to winding back the clock on national standards in health and safety in the workplace, and could put workers' lives at risk," says Victorian Trades Hall Council Secretary Leigh Hubbard. "To suggest that the work on health and safety is done and can be relegated to a small committee is an insult to those who have been injured or died on the job."

"The Howard Government's decision to hand those [safety] functions over to the Department of Workplace Relations raises questions about the continuing role of workers and employer representatives in formulating health and safety standards," says CFMEU Construction National Secretary John Sutton. "With over 50 construction deaths per year, our industry needs stronger health and safety standards and more investment, not less."

Employers and unions have criticised the move as a cost cutting measure that could undermine moves towards national health and safety standards.

"It will leave the commission with no research ability," says Victoria's Industrial Relations Minister Rob Hulls.

More than 450 people die in Australian workplaces every year, with up to 8,200 deaths per year attributable to workplace-related injuries, according to a study by Access Economics.

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