WorkSafe Victoria has launched a new safety awareness campaign to remind employers that risking worker’s lives will have tough penalties.
The More Inspectors. More Inspections. campaign aims to highlight the consequences for employers who fail to protect the health and safety of their workers.
Victorian Workplace Safety Minister, Jill Hennessy, said inspectors are out in force, cracking down on employers who so the wrong thing.
“…One death in a workplace is one too many,” Hennessy said.
“This campaign is about reminding employers of their responsibilities, and that those who do the wrong thing will be caught and prosecuted.”
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It is seen through the eyes of employers who experience the immediate trauma and aftermath when workers are killed or seriously injured while on the job.
WorkSafe will employ up to 40 additional inspectors over the next four years to focus on the health and safety in the construction industry.
The organisations completed 48,652 health and safety visits last financial year and issued 14,550 health and safety compliance notices. Just over 150 prosecutions for breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety act were completed, with court fines of more than $6.8 million imposed.
A Workplace Manslaughter Implementation Taskforce was also announced earlier this year to help develop new legislation to make workplace manslaughter a criminal offence.
Under proposed new laws, employers will face fines of almost $16 million and individuals responsible will be held to account and face up to 20 years in jail.
“We want to remind employers of their responsibility to keep workers healthy and safe, and the pain, suffering and heavy legal consequences they face when they don’t,” said WorkSafe Chief Executive, Clare Amies.