New National OHS Strategy endorsed by Ministers
The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) welcomes the endorsement by the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC) on 24 May 2002 of the release of The National OHS Strategy 2002–2012. The Strategy is a landmark development signifying the commitment of all Australian governments, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, to work cooperatively on national priorities for improving OHS and to achieve minimum national targets for reducing the incidence of workplace deaths and injuries.
The Strategy was developed by the members of NOHSC and reflects their agreement to share responsibility for continuously improving Australia’s performance in work-related health and safety. A copy of the Strategy is available at National OUS Strategy 2002-2012. The Strategy replaces NOHSC’s National OHS Improvement Framework (1999). The nine areas for national action identified in the Framework now underpin the Strategy.
The national OHS vision under the Strategy is Australian workplaces free from death, injury and disease. NOHSC will report annually to the WRMC on the implementation of the Strategy, which will be reviewed and refined over its life.
The national targets allow progress to be measured and will foster national efforts for substantial, on-going improvement in Australia’s OHS performance over the next decade. The targets are:
- to sustain a significant, continual reduction in the incidence of work-related fatalities, with a reduction of at least 20% by 30 June 2012 (achieving a reduction of 10% by 30 June 2007); and
- to reduce the incidence of workplace injury by at least 40% by 30 June 2012 (achieving a reduction of 20% by 30 June 2007)
There are five initial national priority areas for action to achieve short-term and longer-term improvements. They recognise that cooperation among OHS stakeholders will lead to more efficient and effective prevention efforts. The priorities are:
- reduce high incidence/severity risks;
- improve the capacity of business operators and workers to manage OHS effectively;
- prevent occupational disease more effectively;
- eliminate hazards at the design stage;
- strengthen the capacity of government to influence OHS outcomes
NOHSC is now developing the detailed action plans for each of the 5 priorities, so that they will be in place and underway in time for the first annual report to WRMC in May 2003.
Background
NOHSC is a national tripartite consultative body, established by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Act 1985 and consisting of representatives of all Australian Governments, the ACCI and the ACTU.
The most recent published data (WRMC, Comparative Performance Monitoring – Third Report, 2001) shows that Australia suffered 206 work-related traumatic fatalities in 1999-2000. For injuries that resulted in compensation for 5 or more days, the Australian average in 1999-2000 was 16.0 per 1000 employees. Note that these figures do not include injuries suffered by people who are not covered by workers’ compensation schemes, such as the self-employed, and disease claims and fatalities caused by work-related diseases.
For more information about the CPM data, see http://www.nohsc.gov.au/Statistics/OverviewDataPolicyAnalysis/#ComparativePerformance
For analysis of compensation data, see http://www.nohsc.gov.au/Statistics/publications/#compendium
The National Strategy is targeted at significantly reducing the incidence of fatalities and injuries overall, not just those for which compensation is paid.
29 May 2002
Page last updated: 15/07/2008