Public comment invited for plant safety regulation

The Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) announced a three-month public comment period for a discussion paper on Safety Requirements for the Design, Manufacture and Conformity Assessment of Plant. The paper proposes strategies to address current issues associated with the design and manufacture of plant.

ASCC Chairman Bill Scales, AO, said: “The public comment period provides interested parties with an opportunity to have their say on this important occupational health and safety issue.”

The National Standard for Plant was declared in 1994 by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission and established hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control processes for all types of plant. The ASCC is reviewing the standard and is seeking comment on whether the proposed approaches to improve the regulation of plant design are appropriate in an Australian context.

“The effective management of plant design is critical to improving occupational health and safety in Australia. In 2005–06, plant was identified [by the Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics] as a contributing factor in more than 40% of all serious injury claims and in 60% of workplace fatalities,” Scales said.

The ASCC agreed to release the preliminary draft Safety Requirements for the Design, Manufacture and Conformity Assessment of Plant for comment at its meeting on 20 November 2008.

This public comment process is targeted at designers, manufacturers, suppliers and importers of plant, with the discussion paper supported by two documents: Attachment A — Essential Safety Outcomes for Plant and Attachment B — Draft Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS).

The results of the public comment process will assist the ASCC to refine the policy approach it will take towards the management of plant regulation into the future.

The public comment period is 11 February–15 May 2009. Comments must be submitted by close of business, 15 May 2009. The discussion paper can be downloaded from ascc.gov.au and submissions uploaded through the same website.