NSW on notice following "a number of fatalities"
![NSW on notice following "a number of fatalities"](https://d1v1e13ebw3o15.cloudfront.net/data/46081/pool_and_spa_master/..jpg "NSW on notice following "a number of fatalities"")
On 1 October, as National Safe Work Month commenced across Australia, SafeWork New South Wales (SafeWork NSW) advised that NSW businesses and employees have been “put on notice” about their obligations with regard to workplace safety. The announcement came following “a number of fatalities and serious injuries” the state incurred leading up to the national safety month.
The state’s Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Kevin Anderson, cited recent calls for SafeWork NSW inspectors to attend incidents from a number of sectors, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing and transport. “It is clear that more needs to be done to get the safety message through to people, which is why this month the NSW Government will be rolling out a number of new initiatives which aim to protect workers from serious injury or death,” Anderson said.
“We want everyone to make it home to their family at the end of the day, which is why we are reminding everyone of their obligations and responsibilities, not just from employers to their employees, but employees’ obligations to each other.” Anderson also announced that to mark National Safe Work Month, SafeWork NSW will take the construction industry as its focus, placing particular emphasis on the obligations of businesses and workers to stay safe while working at heights.
“Since April this year, SafeWork NSW has been targeting unsafe scaffolds, visiting more than 700 construction sites and issuing 832 notices, including $109,000 in on-the-spot fines for falls risks,” Anderson said. “While inspectors have seen some improvement in scaffold safety recently, the level of risk is still unacceptable with 44% of scaffolds having missing parts, while on 36% of sites it appeared unlicensed workers had altered or removed scaffolding components.”
“That is why we need to strengthen laws and change attitudes to target risky behaviour, before someone gets hurt, or dies,” Anderson concluded.
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