Hunting ‘cowboys’: Major reforms for workplace safety watchdog

The state’s workplace safety regulator SafeWork NSW, will undergo a restructure and be given ‘more teeth’ one year after a scathing report into the watchdog’s practices.

The state’s workplace safety regulator SafeWork NSW, will be stripped from the Department of Customer Service to become a stand-alone independent body, under new reforms proposed by the Minns government.

A brand new SafeWork Commissioner position will be created to help hunt down “cowboy” employers who breach workplace safety laws.

The new legislation to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday, comes in response to a scathing review into the watchdog released by the NSW Auditor-General in February last year.

The report found SafeWork NSW to be a “slow”, “inconsistent” and often “ineffective” agency, with concerns around the way potential breaches were assessed for risk and a lack of transparency in reporting.

At the time the report was released the auditor-general referred SafeWork to the Independent Commission Against Corruption over decisions to spend $1.34 million on a real-time silica monitoring system despite knowing the technology may not work.

Work, Health and Safety Minister Sophie Cotsis said SafeWork had been a “toothless tiger”. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

By positioning SafeWork NSW as a stand alone regulator, Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis is hoping to give the agency “more teeth” to protect workers “without being strangled” by bureaucracy and to increase accountability.

“The feedback I kept getting was that it was a toothless tiger,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“There are many employers doing the right thing, but there are some cowboys out there.

“Now the buck will stop with the Commissioner. They’ll be the cop on the beat in workplaces.”

Currently, the acting head of SafeWork NSW reports to the head of the Customer Service department, leading to bureaucratic hurdles.

Ms Cotsis said while work was still ongoing to implement the 46 recommendations from the review, the restructure would continue major reform within the agency. Additionally the new body will have an extra 48 positions for workplace inspectors.

Part of the reform will also include a new advisory council made up of employers organisations, unions, workplace safety experts and representatives for the families of injured workers.

Dave White, the father of 24-year-old Joel White (above), who was electrocuted at a worksite in Moorebank in 2019, said the reform was long overdue.

Dave White, the father of 24-year-old Joel White who was electrocuted carrying out work on a Sydney roof in 2019, said the reform was long overdue.

“There were times when Joel was killed that we didn’t hear from SafeWork for months,” he said.

“I think becoming a stand alone regulator will allow them to be hopefully more transparent and will allow better communication to families on what is happening,” he said.

“The bureaucracy becomes a handicap and they are slow to react.”

SafeWork NSW acting deputy secretary Trent Curtin. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

SafeWork acting deputy secretary Trent Curtin said the new Commissioner would report directly to the Minister and parliament, thereby making the agency more accountable.

“Without that clear line of sight from leadership there was some confusion around the expectations of work, health and safety compliance,” he said.

“We’ve done work around a whole lot of concerns in the report.

“There will be a lot more transparency about how things (safety breaches) are triaged.

“There’s been a major restructure and that will be supported by these changes. It’s a big reform process.”

Should the legislation pass parliament, SafeWork NSW will form a stand-alone agency from July 1 this year.

Originally published as Hunting ‘cowboys’: Major reforms for workplace safety watchdog