Company directors 'must face fines' for deaths

Date
    April 27, 2015
    Canberra Times


Negligent company directors would be held personally liable and face heavy penalties including jail when an employee is killed in the workplace, under major reforms being urged by trade unions.

As families of those killed in the workplace prepare for special ceremonies on Tuesday, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has unveiled a campaign to push for stronger occupational health and safety laws that will "send a clear message" to irresponsible employers.

In Melbourne, 20 pairs of work boots will be placed outside Victorian Trades Hall as part of International Workers' Memorial Day in memory of the 20 employees who died in the state's workplaces in less than 12 months.   :(

Luke Hilakari, secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, said the act of laying out empty work boots across Lygon Street on Tuesday was to remember the dead and highlight the importance of fighting to better protect people's lives in the workplace.


He said a pair of babies' shoes would tragically be among the work boots, after a nine-month-old boy was killed by a forklift in an automotive workshop last December.   

"The youngest to die in the workplace was nine months, the oldest was 79,"  Mr Hilakari said. "There have been a range of deaths across Australia and these are still huge numbers."

On Tuesday, the ACTU will call on the federal government for reforms that make negligent company directors personally liable for fines and up to 20 years' jail in a bid to ensure companies cannot restructure to avoid penalties.

"Forty-eight Australians have died at work in the past year because their employer didn't take their safety at work seriously enough," ACTU assistant secretary Michael Borowick said.   :(

"We need to change that. Current laws need to be strengthened so that companies and company directors are liable for our safety at work."

But the Australian Industry Group (AiG) said the unions' push ignored the fact that company directors could already be held liable by existing laws that "provide the proper balance" between corporate and individual responsibility.

"The strength of Australia's safety laws and their impact in our workplaces has resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in the rate of workplace fatalities in the past decade – a much better record than other advanced countries," AiG spokesman Mark Goodsell said.

Victorian Finance Minister Robin Scott will join Mr Hilakari to lead the Trades Hall ceremony as a gesture of condolence to the families left behind by workplace deaths.

Mr Scott said workplace accidents did not discriminate. "While workers in Victoria are safer than they have ever been, too many are still being killed or seriously injured at work."

Of course, that can only happen after it has been conclusively proven that they are at fault, not because of Union lies and/or intimidation.

What about Mr Rudd and Mr Garrett for Battgate?

What about Tradesmen if their T-As or apprentices get hurt?  The leading hands if tradies get hurt?  Etc etc?

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 28^th, 2015 at 7:45am:

Of course, that can only happen after it has been conclusively proven that they are at fault, not because of Union lies and/or intimidation.

What competent company director would allow a nine-month-old baby on a work site?  >:(

Bam wrote on Apr 28^th, 2015 at 9:41am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 28th, 2015 at 7:45am: Of course, that can only happen after it has been conclusively proven that they are at fault, not because of Union lies and/or intimidation. What competent company director would allow a nine-month-old baby on a work site?  >:(

What competent parent would?

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 28^th, 2015 at 7:45am:

Of course, that can only happen after it has been conclusively proven that they are at fault, not because of Union lies and/or intimidation.

Ayes =- the olde "poor beaten down boss as victim of unconstrained thuggery' line , eh?

I used to work in  a place where I'd walk past workers discussing people 'sticking fingers in people's faces' - something I, as a Union delegate, never once saw and which was obviously the result of their over-use of imagination and probably mind-altering substances over the years. 

No Union man EVER did anything approximating that kind of behaviour.  On the other hand, the bosses would single people out, target them, and create problems, even to the point of sacking people over madeup 'issues'.

We all know where the bullying comes from in the workplace, sonny Jim - and it ain't the people who actually work for a living - but we can change them rules any time you want.... get out the hanging ropes, pitch-forks, and fire brands and let's go.

Maybe send a few to Indonesia for handling on that island - hang one in ten bosses to encourage the rest.  Be a good start when you see what that kind have done to this country.