Tougher penalties for Tasmania?

Tasmania's OHS penalties may be significantly increased following an announcement by the government that the state's workplace health and safety is being reviewed.

Minister for Justice and Workplace Relations, Steve Kons announced the review on 1 July when he released a discussion paper to provide information on why the review has been called and what it hopes to achieve.

The paper suggests tougher fines as one solution, as Tasmania is not meeting the agreed national targets set by the National OHS Improvement Strategy.

Targets of the 10-year strategy include a reduction of at least 20% of work-related fatalities by 2012 (with a reduction of 10% by June 2007) and a 40% reduction in workplace injury by 2012 (with a reduction of 20% by June 2007).

Kons pointed out that in Tasmania, the maximum penalty for failure to provide a safe workplace is $150,000 for a body corporate or $50,000 for an individual.

"The equivalent penalty in NSW is $1.65 million for a body corporate and $150,000 for an individual," he said.

Tasmania's Workplace Health and Safety Act is 10 years old and Kons believes the nature of workplace hazards have changed significantly since then.

"Ten years ago, visible physical hazards were the prevalent source of injury. Today, the increasing use of technology and changes to the nature of work have elevated the importance of risks to health," he said.

Submissions to the review must be received by 24 July and a final report is expected by October 2006.

The discussion paper can be viewed at: www.justice.tas.gov.au