How can I avoid being fined over occupational health and safety issues?
Of course, we all know that we should be doing our jobs in the safest way possible regardless of whether there are penalties imposed or not. But the reality is that: • sometimes it is tempting to take short-cuts in order to get the job done more quickly or easily. • sometimes we do our best, but our workers ignore our advice – whose fault is it then? • regulations change and we don’t always manage to keep up to date. Will you cop the blame if you are the project manager? Ultimately, you are responsible, but there is a lot you can do to both improve the health and safety performance in your workplace – and to avoid being held personally liable if something does go wrong. There are precedents for employees being fined, without the employer being liable, due to the measures the employer had put in place, such as in this example of a practical joke gone wrong reported in the NSW factsheet on workplace violence prevention. The regulatory authorities are there to help employers to make their
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