Six new WorkSafe inspector roles created in WA in a bid to improve services and investigative resources.

The new roles will lift the total number of inspectors from 93 to 99 to help improve safety at Western Australian work sites.

Four of the new inspectors commenced within the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety in February 2019; the remaining two will commence in mid-2019.

The additional inspectors will assist with:

• Improving the timeliness of investigations and requests to attend;
• The availability of inspector resources in regional Western Australia; and
• Providing support and recognition to the rise in complex psychosocial matters being referred to the department, and the increasing community focus on mental health in the workplace.

NT WorkSafe Review completed

The Territory Government has released a six-month review of the Territory’s workplace regulator, NT WorkSafe.

The review looks at present policies, procedures and activities, and considers how best practices can be implemented to support staff and the industry.

The review makes 27 recommendations to improve workplace health and safety regulation in the NT, to protect Territory workers and businesses. They include:

• rebalancing organisational priorities to meet Territorians’ expectations about work safety
• ensuring people across the Territory have access to NT WorkSafe
• upgrading skills in relation to compliance and investigation, and improving systems
• refocusing resources to allow for prosecutions and ‘hard-compliance’ activities
• clarifying regulator functions to further strengthen independence.

The Territory Labor Government commissioned former ACTU Assistant Secretary Tim Lyons to carry out the review after he completed a similar review of the Queensland regulator.

To view the final report, click here.