Unions battle proposed cuts to work safety provisions

Unions have accused NSW Premier Morris Iemma of seeking lower occupational health and safety standards by supporting a reduction in the duty of care required of employers under a proposed new national system.

Kevin Rudd last week agreed with premiers including Mr Iemma at the Council of Australian Governments meeting that a proposed harmonisation of OH&S laws would not involve any reduction of standards.

But a leaked copy of the NSW Government's Stein report, to be handed to the Rudd Government today in Mr Iemma's official submission on the issue, is understood to recommend a cut to standards.

Unions from NSW, the state with the nation's highest standards, are incensed that the report by former judge Paul Stein supports relaxing the "absolute" duty of employers to provide health and safety at work. Mr Stein's report advocates adopting rules operating in states other than NSW and Queensland, which add that the employers' duty applies "where reasonably practicable".

Chris Christodoulou, a senior official from Unions NSW, said Mr Iemma had decided to hand the Stein report to a Rudd government panel on OH&S harmonisation without consulting unions or business.

A spokeswoman for Mr Iemma confirmed the Stein report would be submitted but insisted it was "not the entire government submission", adding the Government did not totally endorse the Stein report.

"The Government's position is that we do not want to see any compromise or reduction in workplace safety," she said.

Mr Christodoulou accused Mr Iemma of sitting on the Stein report since receiving it in April last year, then handing it to the Rudd Government as a formal submission. Mr Christodoulou said NSW unions had received a leaked copy only yesterday.

Unions fear any reduction in employers' absolute duty to provide care in the workplace would weaken the prospects of successfully prosecuting employers for breaching safety laws in cases of death and serious injury.

Another issue worrying unions is the Stein report's recommendation that restrictions be placed on their entry to workplaces to ensure employers are not "hindered".

Unions also believe that a proposal to allow appeals to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, in cases where employers dispute decisions of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, would make the system too legalistic and expensive.

Some parts of the Stein report drew unions' support, including recommendations that they retain a right to run prosecutions and that industrial manslaughter laws remain in place.

Source: Brad Norington, The Australian