Chairman defends workplace watchdog
'No evidence NOHSC is too unwieldy'
No evidence exists to support the claim that the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (Worksafe Australia) fails to function properly because it is unwieldy, according to chairman Joe Riordan.
"It may have other failings, as every human institution has, but one is not that it is too large or too representative," he said.
"In my view, its tripartite nature and its consultative character are essential to its success.
"It is not as though all that needs to be done has been done and that we have achieved the objective of a completely safe working environment."
Mr Riordan was addressing a convention of the Industrial Relations Society of Western Australia at Busselton, near Bunbury, on the need for law to achieve or maintain order in the workplace.
He said that although the Industry Commission's draft report on workplace health and safety, now under consideration, proposed to make the National Commission more efficient, it was at present structured "to truly and properly reflect the respective roles of the States and Commonwealth agencies."
The Commonwealth could legislate to cover perhaps the overwhelming majority of employees and employers in Australia in terms of occupational health and safety, but had chosen not do.
"In my respectful opinion, that was (and is) a wise decision," Mr Riordan commented.
Irrespective of how wide the legislative net might be cast, it would appear that some employees would still be left uncovered by Commonwealth legislation, and would have to rely on State awards for their protection against workplace hazards.
"The enforcement of legal rights in those circumstances bristles with difficulties," he said.
For example, injured employees would first be required to prove they were not covered by federal legislation before they could enforce any rights under State law. Alternatively, employees seeking to enforce federal law might have to prove they were properly covered.
"In the past, the Commonwealth and States agreed on the structure of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission which gives ready and sensible effect to the powers of both the States and the Commonwealth."
Its present constitution included himself as chairman, the chief executive of Worksafe Australia; federal Government representatives; employers represented by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; members nominated by the ACTU; and each State and Territory had one representative.
"It is argued that this structure is inefficient and unwieldy," said Mr Riordan.
"I must confess to having an automatic adverse reaction to suggestions about organisations being too big or too widely representative, therefore of being unwieldy.
"That reaction is based on a deeply entrenched suspicion of the professional bureaucrats when they argue for improved efficiency. In my experience, it is usually the start of a campaign for the acquisition of greater power and influence for them.
"There is simply no evidence that the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission fails to function properly on account of its size."
13 October 1995
Page last updated: 15/07/2008