Vic: Review calls for tougher penalties for workplace breach=2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-06-2004
Vic: Review calls for tougher penalties for workplace breach=2

The report was commissioned after the government abandoned attempts to introduce industrial
manslaughter laws when it was re-elected in 2002.

Mr Maxwell said he did not recommend a new industrial manslaughter offence in any form.

"This legislation creates offences based on risk. They are not based on killing people," he said.

The report follows consultation with a reference group, made up of safety experts,
union representatives and employer groups.

Mr Maxwell said the state's workplace safety laws were "fundamentally sound" but needed
an overhaul to improve their operation.

Under his recommendations, new roving health and safety inspectors would be created
to conduct safety checks across a number of locations within an industry.

Mr Maxwell said compliance with workplace safety laws should be encouraged through
a variety of ways, including WorkCover premium discounts, awards and public recognition.

He said penalties should be used only as a last resort but there should be a "substantial
increase" in financial penalties and an ability to impose jail terms for company managers,
even for first offences.

In other recommendations, he rejected a bid to allow unions to prosecute employers
for safety breaches, as is the case in NSW, as "completely inappropriate".

He also called for the creation of enforceable orders in which companies would give
a binding undertaking to rectify a safety problem, with periods of "good behaviour" required
for those found to have committed safety breaches.

Trade unions welcomed the review as comprehensive and "intellectually rigorous", but
expressed disappointment it did not deal with the issue of industrial manslaughter.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard said the review contained many
positive recommendations, particularly those on roving safety inspectors and union rights
of entry.

"On first reading, we welcome many of the recommendations made by Chris Maxwell, but
will need to understand how they will work in practice."

However, Mr Hubbard said he was concerned the debate would focus solely on penalties,
and urged against "scare-mongering" by employers in relation to jail terms and fines .

AAP bp/gfr/lb/br

KEYWORD: MAXWELL 2ND D/L (REOPENS)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.