What are employer’s Occupational Health and Safety obligations when employing staff?

Knowing and understanding the occupational health and safety (OHS) laws will help you avoid the unnecessary costs and damage to your business caused by workplace injury and illness.

The 5 most important virtues under OH&S legislation you are obliged to provide:

• safe premises
• safe machinery and materials
• safe systems of work
• information, instruction, training and supervision
• a suitable working environment and facilities

If you don’t comply with these legal requirements you can be prosecuted and fined.

Workplace health and safety authorities in each state and territory and Safe Work Australia have responsibilities for enforcing the OH&S legislation. Australian Federal government have been pushing for harmonisation and hopefully in future it will simplify the system, however at this present time as a business owner you require to follow both the State and Federal Laws.

Some Facts:

• Over 135 000 Australians are seriously injured at work every year and more than 200 die as a result of work-related injuries. It is estimated that many more die as a result of diseases with work-related factors.
• Manual handling caused by lifting or moving objects was the cause of 41 per cent of all serious claims in 2008�09.
• A typical workers’ compensation claim receives $6000 in compensation payments and results in nearly four weeks of absence from work.
• A third of compensated fatalities in the workplace during 2008�09 were caused by a vehicle accident.Back injuries accounted for almost one-quarter of all serious claims in 2008�09.

To ensure safety of the employees is like climbing Mt Everest you require the appropriate tools and safety gear to complete the mission, the same applies in work environment giving the appropriate tools and safety gear to your employees ensures their safety hence successfully completing their work tasks. Mission accomplished.