IMPROVING SAFETY IN QUEENSLAND’S RURAL INDUSTRY
Published Monday, 05 November, 2007 at 01:40 PM
Minister for Transport, Trade, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) is working with rural industry and other stakeholders to help reduce the number of injuries and fatalities, Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel revealed today.
“The rural sector has the highest fatality rate of all Queensland’s industry sectors at 12.2 per 100,000 workers in 2005-06. That is almost three times the fatality rate for workers in all industries in Queensland. The traumatic injury rate is also above average at 9.4 per 1,000 workers.
“Those statistics are a major concern for the government, and reducing them is one of WHSQ’s goals,” Mr Mickel said.
One way in which we are seeking to reduce this unacceptable rate of injury and fatalities is by removing section 229 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 which exempts the rural industry from a number of workplace health and safety requirements. This includes mobile elevating work platforms, prescribed occupations, hazardous substances, and confined spaces.
A Regulatory Impact Statement will be released immediately and run till the end of January 2008 to gather comment from the sector about the proposed changes.
“Queensland is the only State or Territory which provides an exemption like this to the rural industry. It isn’t surprising that our rural industry has higher fatality and injury rates than most other States and Territories,” Mr Mickel said.
“Removing the exemption would align Queensland with the rest of Australia. It will also ensure that there is only one standard for workplace health and safety, not two, and reduce the risk of workers being injured or killed.”
Removing the exemption would result in minimal costs to the rural industry.
If the exemption is removed, rural businesses will be given up to two years to comply with the requirements:
Media contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944, Nathan Moir 3235 4060
November 5, 2007
“The rural sector has the highest fatality rate of all Queensland’s industry sectors at 12.2 per 100,000 workers in 2005-06. That is almost three times the fatality rate for workers in all industries in Queensland. The traumatic injury rate is also above average at 9.4 per 1,000 workers.
“Those statistics are a major concern for the government, and reducing them is one of WHSQ’s goals,” Mr Mickel said.
One way in which we are seeking to reduce this unacceptable rate of injury and fatalities is by removing section 229 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 which exempts the rural industry from a number of workplace health and safety requirements. This includes mobile elevating work platforms, prescribed occupations, hazardous substances, and confined spaces.
A Regulatory Impact Statement will be released immediately and run till the end of January 2008 to gather comment from the sector about the proposed changes.
“Queensland is the only State or Territory which provides an exemption like this to the rural industry. It isn’t surprising that our rural industry has higher fatality and injury rates than most other States and Territories,” Mr Mickel said.
“Removing the exemption would align Queensland with the rest of Australia. It will also ensure that there is only one standard for workplace health and safety, not two, and reduce the risk of workers being injured or killed.”
Removing the exemption would result in minimal costs to the rural industry.
If the exemption is removed, rural businesses will be given up to two years to comply with the requirements:
Media contact: Chris Brown 3237 1944, Nathan Moir 3235 4060
November 5, 2007