Focus area five: the objective of the work health and safety regulatory system

We sought feedback on whether the work health and safety regulatory system is currently meeting its objective, via questions on its general thresholds and settings.

Submissions summary

• Submitters were generally divided about whether the work health and safety regulatory system’s settings are correctly balanced, with relatively even proportions of negative and positive views on whether settings are over or under-cautious, clear, effective, flexible and durable, proportionate to the risk or balancing costs with risks.
• This indicates that as well as positive views there was an equally significant proportion of negative views about whether the current balance is desirable.
• Roadshow feedback included uncertainty about roles and duties within the system, its complexity and the need to prioritise what is most critical.

Illustrative quotes from submissions

An environmental care group – “and more alarmingly, volunteers are electing to stop volunteering rather than go through the expensive, time consuming and arduous process of getting a Controlled Substance Licence.”

A recreational group – “The 2015 legislation has created a perceived or actual risk of liability for landowners and land managers that permit recreational access, prompting them to respond conservatively by restricting or closing public access to their land.”

An organisation within the energy sector – “electricity distribution businesses have observed that the cost of the temporary traffic management required by road controlling authorities when carrying out these works has become significant and, in our view, unreasonable and not proportionate to the risks present on site.”

Feedback from the roadshows included that:

• There is uncertainty about roles and duties within the system, including some officers that are unclear about the extent of their role and duty under the Act.
• From an SME perspective, the system is over-complicated and some are scared of work health and safety due to its complexity.
• Comments that WorkSafe takes a "gold standard" approach to compliance with the fullest extent of controls in the regulations in situations where the regulations are also designed to allow flexibility for tailored approaches.
• There is need to prioritise what is most critical, and to reframe work health and safety in this way.

Specific Focus Area Five survey questions

Specific Focus Area Five Questions:

• Most considered the threshold at which work-related risks need to be managed is about right, some considered it over-cautious and some considered it under-cautious.
• Most responded positively to whether the regulatory system is clear, but many responded that it is not clear.
• Many responded positively to whether the regulatory system is effective, but most responded negatively.
• Many responded positively to whether the regulatory system is flexible and durable, with most responding negatively.
• Most responded positively to whether the regulatory system is proportionate to the risk, with many responding negatively.
• Many responded positively to whether the regulatory system is balancing costs with risk, with most responding negatively (by a slim margin).

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