Parliament House given three months to fix workplace safety issues identified in SafeWork SA improvement notices

The clock is ticking for state parliament as it has been given a short amount of time to fix a series of issues identified by SafeWork SA.

State parliament has been given three months to fix issues identified by the industrial safety watchdog, including the management of hazards associated with alcohol and drugs in the workplace.

SafeWork SA inspectors audited Parliament House in August with a focus on health and safety risks arising from psychological hazards, including sexual and discriminatory harassment, in the workplace.

They issued six improvement notices, which identified other issues such as failing to demonstrate that a system is in place for managing and resolving grievances or complaints associated with third parties who enter the workplace.

State parliament has been put on notice and have three months to fix issues found by SafeWork SA. Picture: Russell Millard

They also found that workers in leadership roles had not been provided with adequate information and training about their work health and safety responsibilities.

The audit was a recommendation of a review into harassment in the parliamentary workplace, which was released by the Equal Opportunity Commissioner in 2021.

The report made a total 16 recommendations to combat bad behaviour within the corridors of Parliament House, and in ministerial and MPs’ electorate offices.

Its report concluded that “sexual and discriminatory harassment is prevalent in the parliamentary workplace”.

“(A total of) 27.1 per cent of survey respondents reported they had experienced sexual harassment in the parliamentary workplace,” it read.

“(A total of) 31.6 per cent of survey respondents reported having experienced offensive comments or jokes made about a personal attribute protected by equal opportunity legislation.”

The investigation heard of one instance of a male exposing himself in front of co-workers.

It also revealed that complaints made against MPs were handled poorly and victims were often left to develop their own “protective strategies”.

Dan Cregan said the implementation of the recommendations was the responsibility of parliamentary officers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Parliament has been given three months to address and fix five of the notices issued by SafeWork, with the sixth – relating to psychosocial hazards – to be actioned by the first half of 2025.

“Improvement notices are a commonly used tool by SafeWork SA in relation to work health and safety issues,” a SafeWork statement said.

Special Minister of State Dan Cregan said implementation of the recommendations was the responsibility of parliamentary officers.

“In December 2023, with the support of the government, the presiding officers directed parliamentary officers to implement all outstanding recommendations of the Equal Opportunity Commissioner without delay,” he said.

“The government takes these matters extremely seriously and has introduced legislation to appoint an executive officer to parliament to bolster executive resources available to the clerks.”