Archive for January 24, 2015

How preventing workplace bullying makes a more productive work place!

A recent court case about workplace bullying that brought great distress and ill health to the bullied employee is a graphic example of what can go wrong when existing policy and procedures are not implemented. Therefore as a business owner preventing workplace bullying is a task which should not be ignored.

The case concerned a supervisor bullying an employee who had just returned from maternity leave. The bullied employee complained to the State Manager who by procedure should have involved the HR

New WHS legislation takes effect January
Are you ready?

National

As of January brand new WHS legislation will be brought in across Australia. As flagged by the Federal Government in October, employers are no longer required to obtain AS/NZS 4801:2001 certification before tendering for Commonwealth construction projects.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz said at the time that this and other changes to the Australian Government Building and Construction OHS Accreditation Scheme, including extending the maximum accreditation period from three to six years for “consistent high performers”, will free up the Federal Safety Commissioner to target

What are Contractors WHS Responsibilities

For many organisations, working with contractors and subcontractors is part and parcel of daily life. More and more organisations are seeking the services of specialist contractors to assist them with  projects or simply day-to-day maintenance tasks. This can make life easier for everyone in many respects, but it can also create a number of issues when it comes to managing work health and safety. Therefore understanding contractors WHS responsibilities can make everyones job easier.

What does the law say about contractors?

For certain construction work over $250,000, the model

NEW NSW WHS Mining Legislation
Changes effective as of 01/02/2015

Finally, the new work health and safety (WHS) laws for the NSW mining industry – the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Act 2013 (NSW) and Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulation 2014 (NSW) (New Mining Laws) – will commence on 1 February 2015.

What does this mean?

The New Mining Laws will repeal and replace the existing Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 (NSW) and the Mine Health and Safety Act 2004 (NSW) and the respective regulations. This means that coal mining and other mining