UnionsWA has today welcomed final stage for the enactment of the Work Health and Safety Act 2019 which will, from tomorrow, fully come into effect.

On Friday 1st April from 2:30 pm, UnionsWA will host a Zoom event with Minister Bill Johnston to discuss the importance of the new act. RSVPs online can be made here.

Owen Whittle, Secretary UnionsWA said:

“This is an historic occasion.

“WA has gone from having the weakest and most outdated workplace safety laws to having the best Australia.

“Rightly, the headline reform is the introduction of industrial manslaughter.

“If a negligent driver causing a fatal accident can be charged with manslaughter, so too should an employer who is negligent and creates a dangerous workplace.

“The families of loved ones who have been killed through work deserve acknowledgement for their tireless efforts.

“There will not be justice for their family member lost, but there is now a greater likelihood that there will be justice in future.

“Is has been a great shame that many have spread misinformation or other falsehoods about how Industrial Manslaughter and other parts of this legislation will operate.

“Importantly, this clear message in law will reduce workplace fatalities – lives will be saved.

“Less contentious but also very important are reforms in this Act that acknowledge mental health impacts from work, improve standards of training for workplace safety representatives, provide vital whistle blower protections and the closure of a loophole that allowed employers to insure against penalties for unlawful conduct.

“Access to this insurance for large corporations in WA undermined the need for compliance and safer workplaces.

“A criminal should not be able to insure themselves against penalties.

“As with any significant reform there are many who deserve to be acknowledged.

“Many governments in the past have discussed harmonising and updating WA’s workplace safety laws, but is has taken a determined McGowan Labor Government, guided by Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston to achieve this important outcome.

“I shall thank last, those that are, frankly, most important – those working women and men who have committed to their rights at work by joining their union and being active in their workplaces.

“Workplace rights such as those for safety, are won by disciplined struggle over many years by union members and that has true for this reform.”