Employers in Victoria could be fined nearly $300,000 for entering into insurance contracts against workplace health and safety fines – just one of a series of safety amendments introduced to parliament this week.

The state government introduced the Occupational Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 to “expand worker rights and protections, boost employer accountability and streamline enforcement.”

Importantly, the Bill expressly prohibits individuals and businesses from entering into a contract that insures it against paying monetary penalties under workplace safety laws.

This includes the State Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, Dangerous Goods Act 1985, and Equipment (Public Safety) Act 1994.

The Government said such clauses “undermined” Victoria’s strong workplace safety laws – including the new workplace manslaughter offence – by shielding employers from tough penalties and reducing their deterrent effect.

Under the proposed laws, entering, offering to enter, or holding such a contract will attract penalties of up to $54,522 for individuals and $272,610 for businesses.

Another key change in the Bill ensures that labour-hire workers have all the same rights and safety protections as other workers.

Labour-hire workers are employed by a labour-hire company or agency and perform work at the worksite of a “host” employer, often supervised by the host or their staff.

Under current laws, the host employer does not owe labour-hire workers the same health and safety duties as they do their own staff.

The Bill addresses this gap by extending the definition of “employer” and “employee” in the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to ensure labour-hire workers are considered employees of the host.

It also requires labour-hire providers and host employers to consult and cooperate on their shared responsibility to ensure the safety of labour-hire workers.

Any breach of this duty would be punishable by fines of up to $32,713 for individuals and $163,566 for businesses.

The Bill also updates powers for health and safety representatives and authorised employee representatives to take photos or videos to record suspected workplace safety breaches in real-time, as well as enabling WorkSafe Inspectors to issue notices and reports electronically.

The reforms were developed in consultation with industry and employee groups and deliver on recommendations from key reviews, including the Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work and the Boland Review into the Model Work Health and Safety Act.

Minister for Workplace Safety Ingrid Stitt said the proposed changes were “common-sense changes.”

“These changes mean employers will no longer be able to dodge penalties where they’re responsible for a workplace safety breach – they’ll have to face the consequences.”

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