Originally published by the Australian Institute of Health & Safety
Worsening economic conditions and worker shortages are placing increased pressure on WHS functions, with examples of WHS shortcuts, cost-cutting and an attitude of “nice to have if you can afford it” in many workplaces, according to a recent NSW Centre for Work Health and Safety report.
The WHS Radar report (Spring edition 2023) synthesises the latest data on pertinent issues, trends and insights related to the current state of WHS in and outside of Australia, as well as potential WHS issues in the future world of work.
“Our consultations indicated continuing impacts of the worsening economy on the priority placed on safety, regarded as “nice to have if you can afford it”, with many examples of WHS shortcuts and cost cutting,” the report said.
“Dropping safety tasks and roles, revising what is reasonably practicable, and manipulating risk assessments to justify ‘doing nothing’ were raised as significant concerns.”
A shortage of workers and recruitment challenges were also identified as contributing factors to a lower prioritisation of WHS.
“Our consultations revealed that as workers leave jobs to seek better conditions elsewhere, existing workers are required to cover vacant positions or take on unfamiliar tasks,” the report said.
“This has increased workload and time pressure. Moreover, as recruitment favours availability over skill, lack of experience and competence is increasing risk at all levels of operation.”
The report also noted that fines and penalties need to be increased to support deterrence, with several inspectors expressing frustrations over fines being too small to have a noticeable financial impact.
“Recent amendments to the national model WHS laws will address some of these concerns as they are introduced across harmonised jurisdictions as the maximum available fines and jail times have been significantly increased,” the report said.
Penalties under section 31 (Gross negligence or reckless conduct – Category 1) were more than tripled while prison terms were doubled. All other penalties were increased by 39.03 per cent (before being rounded up or down), matching the increases in penalty amounts across other areas of law since 2011.
The report also indicated that the implementation of the new Code of Practice for psychosocial hazards has been challenging.
Guidance was critiqued as too generic, while enforcement of the code was described as “random and inconsistent” with inspectors and jurisdictions developing different approaches, guidance material and standards.
“In non-harmonised jurisdictions, a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude has emerged until best practice and the definition of reasonably practicable has been established,” the report said.
Despite the challenges, the results of the Australian WHS Survey suggest worker exposure to psychosocial hazards has significantly reduced in the past six months.
Lastly, the report also noted that while advances in technology can prevent harm, there is the potential for the introduction of new risks.
“Technological advancement is a key focus for harm prevention. Increased use of robots, drones and other remote-controlled devices can help operators avoid hazardous environments,” the report said.
“Similarly, WHS management software is abundant and helps streamline processes such as risk assessment, control verification, incident reporting, and more.”
When combined with advanced algorithms, predictive models, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), software can analyse patterns, detect harm in real-time, and predict risk into the future.
However, the use of generative AI also raises concerns around job security, privacy, and data security.
“Concerns were expressed in our diverse consultations around the increased use of this technology to draft emails, investigation reports, safe work method statements, WHS management plans procedures, and training material without adequate quality control, thus contributing to misinformation and WHS risk,” the report said.
The latest WHS Radar report incorporates data from:
- existing databases (Australian Business Register), social media data and data reports (Australian Bureau of Statistics);
- a review of the international grey and academic literature; and
- consultations with nearly 1500 Australian workers, 26 senior WHS professionals (the Australian Institute of Health & Safety’s College of Fellows) and 223 WHS inspectors (from Australian regulators associated with the Heads of Workplace Safety authorities).
