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Don't Risk 2nd Rate SafetyReducing death, injury and illness at work is a top priority for working people and unions.We need your help to remind our governments that Australians cannot live with second rate safety. Big business is backing changes to national workplace health and safety laws that would put workers at risk of injury or illness because it wants to cut costs and red tape. Unions say it is unacceptable for the changes to lead to increased profits at the expense of workers’ safety. Read a couple of the stories shared with us, by workers and families about the impacts of unhealthy and unsafe workplaces. Australian unions have launched a major new campaign called 'Don't Risk Second Rate Safety' to prevent any reduction in rights and protections for workers. NEW: Download the Victorian OHS Radio Ad Take Action: Tell our governments - Don't Risk 2nd Safety
Tell our governments - Don't Risk 2nd Rate SafetyIn the few minutes it will take you to read this article, someone else — perhaps a friend or workmate of yours — will have been seriously injured at work. From crane drivers to nurses to engineers, workplace health and safety is an issue that affects every worker. Yet, most Australians are unaware that their health and safety laws are being radically reformed. Our governments are working to harmonise all the existing health and safety laws into one national system for the states, territories and Commonwealth. Big businesses are pushing for this new national system because they say it will reduce red tape and be easier and more affordable for them. But there is a real risk that the new laws will reduce red tape at the cost of lower safety standards for working Australians. Every year more than 350,000 Australians are hurt or become ill at work — seriously enough to take a day or more off work. Tragically it is estimated there are more Australians who die from injuries or work-related disease than the national road toll. As a nation, the proposed new laws are an opportunity to significantly improve safety standards. Why shouldn’t Australia have the world’s best workplace safety laws? We are world leaders in tackling road safety and we should also aim to be world leaders in making sure our workplaces are safe. Please send our governments this message and tell them — Don’t risk second rate safety! The Latest OHS VideoFive years ago Andreia Viegas lost her husband when he was killed on a building site. Andreia knows first-hand the importance of first rate workplace safety. That's why she's supporting the union campaign to make our workplaces safer.
Produced by Unions NSW and the Australian Council of Trade Unions Scenes from the OHS National Day of ActionThis set is made up of pictures taken during the Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) National Day of Action, September 2009.
International Workers' Memorial Day Rally PicturesThe "Your Rights at Work" team went along to the rally and march held in Melbourne to for International Workers' Memorial Day. The day is dedicated to commemorating the workers that have died because of work-related accidents. These pictures are from our Flickr account. Downloads & ResourcesNEW Download the Victorian OHS Radio Ad Download the postcard Download the Campaign Radio Ad Download the Fact Sheet Stories from Workers and FamiliesOver the long history of the Australian union movement a lot of stories have been collected about unsafe and unhealthy workplaces. And throughout that history workers and unions have fought hard for healhier and safer workplaces. So we thought we'd share some of them with you, starting with Deanne's and Ray's stories. One death is one too many Signed off by Deanne May Gary May was 21 when a massive explosion at the Simsmetal plant in Brooklyn left him with 85% burns. For 20 days after the event, Gary drifted in and out of consciousness but he eventually succumbed to the horrific injuries. Gary was worshipped by his younger brothers and adored by parents who, years later still grieve. “It’s been 23 years, but I can tell you, it never ends,” says Deanne May, coordinator of the Melbourne-based Industrial Deaths Support and Advocacy (IDSA) group. “Gary was a wonderful young man who had so much to give and we have been robbed of all that.” The explosion also killed three others and Simsmetal, a multinational million dollar company was fined $45,000, “It was not much, even back then,” says Deanne. “What message does this send? The loss of four lives means nothing!” Eleven years after Gary’s death, Deanne realized there was a desperate need for support for people who lost a loved one at work. Not only are people worn down by having to negotiate the legal system where cases can drag on for years, their own health suffers and people need to know that others understand how they feel, says Deanne. IDSA was founded in 1995 and is one of Australia’s three support organizations for victims of workplace death but at the time it was first organization of its kind in Australia. “They say less people are dying at work, but there is still so much pain out there and too many deaths. The worst thing is that it is usually preventable. That’s what makes it really hard for people.” In Victoria alone, 15 people have died in traumatic workplace events this year. IDSA members know first hand the need for strong OHS laws and want to make sure that the proposed harmonized laws compel employers to provide a safe working environment. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, we can’t afford to get it wrong. The government promised things would be better not worse. We don’t want to go backwards,” says Deanne. Take Action: Tell our governments - Don't Risk 2nd SafetyIt is over five years since Ray Wilton was involved in a knife attack at work. “I’ve had years of exposure to client violence including death threats and stalking, with little or no action by the department to remedy or resolve these issues,” he says. Ray works in child and family services where client intimidation and violence is relatively commonplace. But the attack that he was involved with in 2004 has left him psychologically scarred. A woman with a history of violence confronted staff at the Ballina Community Service Centre and Ray, the Casework manager, along with other child and family services workers intervened to try to stop her, but she stabbed a colleague and threatened Ray and others. She was later imprisoned for the assault. A loyal and longstanding employee of the NSW public service, he still feels traumatized by the incident and the subsequent criminal trial. Ray, who is also a senior delegate with the Public Service Association of NSW said: “I spent much of the anxious years during the court processes expecting reprisals from DoCS for speaking up. To this day I feel vulnerable and I believe I have been poorly supported and left to feel afraid despite not having done anything wrong,” he says. “I have not received any acknowledgement from the department about the harm it caused me or others and I get by daily on anti depressants.” Because WorkCover in NSW took no action, the PSA took the case to the Industrial Relations Court which ruled that low cost and practical measures should have been put in place to prevent the assault. The Department was found guilty of breaches of the OHS Act and was fined $200,000. DoCS has implemented a series of practices and policies and installed security related infra structure in most centres. Ray is in no doubt that the union prosecution case has resulted in improved OHS for DoCs. “All around me I see signs of improvements to security and I put this down to the OH&S legislation finally being taken seriously by this department. I believe that the changes occurring around me are directly related to the legislation now being properly applied and are an acknowledgement that this employer now understands its duty of care to the safety of its staff. “I believe the security improvements are directly related to the prosecution and I have noted a marked increase in safety improvement activity as this case approached a date for judgement,” he says. Ray believes that the union right to prosecute must not be lost in NSW and other states and territories could also benefit from it too. Take Action: Tell our governments - Don't Risk 2nd Safety |
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