Work Health and Safety Advisory Council

10 April 2024
Council Communiques

The Work Health and Safety Advisory Council (the Council) met on Monday, 25 March 2024 and the following items were discussed:

Work Health and Safety activities of NT WorkSafe Inspectors in the Mining Industry

A Resources Committee was established by the Council in November 2023 to consider and ensure that NT WorkSafe is adequately resourced to administer the Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation in this sector. The Committee will be chaired by Council Deputy Chair, Mr Mark Davies from EHS Essential Services Pty Ltd, other members of the Committee are Lloyd Pumpa, from the National Tertiary Education Union and Lucas Hemsley from the Community and Public Sector Union.

The newly established Resources Committee will also revisit Recommendation 16 of the Best Practice Review of Workplace Health and Safety in the NT (“the Lyons Review”).

The Committee was not able to meet in March 2024 and will be rescheduled prior to the June 2024 Council meeting and will report back on its considerations on this issue.

Injured Workers and Family Forum Recommendations

  • Recommendation 2 is partially complete with an assistance guide for injured workers (relating to any investigations or follow-up rather than workers’ compensation). The guide has been published on NT WorkSafe’s website. A guidance document to support “sudden loss and grief” is currently being drafted.
  • Recommendation 3 is complete with a section on NT WorkSafe website titled ‘Support” located in a prominent position. There is information on other organisations involved after a serious incident or death such as NT Police, Employers and Employers insurer. There is also a link to the Northern Territory Coroners page as requested as part of this recommendation.
  • Recommendation 7 is complete. An ongoing position has been created for a “NT WorkSafe Support Officer” and the position was filled in March 2024. Further information on the role of the support is on the support landing page.
  • The remaining recommendation to be completed is Recommendation 4 “A collection of animations be developed (similar to the workers’ compensation animation) to assist bereaved families and injured workers. The implementation of this recommendation may take an alternative approach or need resourcing that is not immediately available”.

National and Local Work Health and Safety Focus’ – NT WorkSafe

NT WorkSafe provided the Council with an update on topical and regulatory matters being raised nationally and locally on work health and safety issues in relation to:

  • New Electricity Safety legislation for the Northern Territory in 2024 – Work is ongoing in relation to preparation of regulations to the Electrical Safety Act, noting that both the Act and Regulations are anticipated to come into force on 1 July 2024. Further consultation with industry will occur once the draft regulations are completed.
  • Ongoing work is being undertaken by the NT WorkSafe Electrical team to ensure the compliant installation of solar batteries. Concerns are ongoing in relation to such installations being non-compliant and installers / contractors not observing requirements of best practice, Australian Standards and guidelines / requirements for such installations.
  • Draft Code of Practice for managing psychosocial hazards for NT has been completed.  Ministerial correspondence has been sent to the Minister’s Office requesting that the Code be adopted for the NT.
  • A Guide to Management of Fatigue for Heavy Vehicle Drivers has been published on the  NT WorkSafe website in December 2023.
  • Violence and aggressive behaviour at workplaces remain a significant concern for the retail industry. NT WorkSafe has consulted with the SDA and continues with its proactive work in providing advice and guidance to PCBUs and workers to manage the risks of hazards in these ‘vulnerable’ workplaces.
  • A WHS Ministers meeting was held on 22 March 2024. Ministers from all jurisdictions agreed to prohibit the use and process of engineered stone due to the risk to health and safety associated with respirable crystalline silica from such products.  Safe Work Australia is tasked to draft the requirement legislative amendments to give effect to this prohibition.

NT WorkSafe planned activities

A planning day was held in January 2024 to forecast NT WorkSafe’s focus and key action items for 2024.
NT WorkSafe will prioritise work in the following areas:

  • Psychosocial hazards and risks – in particular in relation to violent and aggressive behaviour. NT WorkSafe will roll out the safety focus further to the heath and community services sectors.
  • The agriculture industry is the top work category for serious injuries in NT WorkSafe’s October 2023 Key WHS statistics. NT WorkSafe will work with the NT Farmers on an appropriate guide for their industry having regard to the nature of the employees, from labour hire companies, overseas (where English is not their first language) and the GIG economy workers.
  • Remote and regional areas visits – NT WorkSafe will continue visiting remote and regional locations regularly in 2024.
  • Managing working from / falls from heights – there has been an increase in notifications of workers working at heights without the appropriate fall protection or safety measures.
  • The implementation of the Electrical Safety Legislation from 1 July 2024.
  • The legislation for a ban / prohibition on the use of engineered stone from 1 July 2024.
  • Electrical Safety Week – September 2024.
  • Safe Work Month October 2024 – suggested items:
    • Presentation on investigations and prosecutions process
    • Mock trial (topic to be advised)

If you work in an industry and have suggestion for a topic or presentation from NT WorkSafe for Safe Work Month, please contact the Council’s Secretariat at NT WorkSafe.

Prosecutions

NT WorkSafe currently has 14 prosecution matters before the Local Court.

Mental health concerns

Advice has been received of an increase people accessing and seeking assistance with mental health concerns that indicate an increase in the frequency and severity of work related mental health issues. There has been an increase of the number of safety concerns reported to NT WorkSafe regarding psychosocial hazards since the amendment to the regulation that came into effect on 1 July 2023.

The Council reviewed relevant de-identified statistics for the last six months with respect to notifications relating to work related mental health concerns and psychosocial hazards at its next meeting. It was noted that:

The general enquiries mostly relate to requests for bullying and harassment forms and includes requests from workplaces for NT WorkSafe to deliver information about bullying, harassment and psychosocial hazards to employees.

Assault of a person/s is a key contributor to the increase in the total number of enquiries and notifications lodged in scope in 2023, when compared to 2022.

NT WorkSafe has been asked to provide further data descriptors on the 2023 statistics to the next Council meeting.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 17 June 2024.

Please contact Council’s Secretariat via email AGD.NTWorkSafeAdministration@nt.gov.au if you have any enquiries.

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