The duty and the definition of due diligence are necessarily broadly based, as is appropriate for a health and safety duty. The detailed requirements to achieve compliance with each of the elements of the duty must be understood and action taken. A challenge moving forward will be to provide the necessary support for officers, to provide the understanding and capability to enable them to comply with their duty and effectively lead in health and safety. A further aspect of this must be to promote appropriate roles and skill-sets at the middle management and supervisory levels, to promote appropriate leadership styles and cultures. This may be considered as a significant component of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022. But what should that strategy include? Issues to consider include: How best to inform officers of the existence and detail of the duty of an officer, including guidance on the identification of officers in an organisation. The development and dissemination of guidance and tools, to assist officers and organisations to develop and implement appropriate structures, policies and procedures for effective leadership. Who will provide this and how will it be done? What can and should be done to assist people to adopt and demonstrate appropriate leadership at the middle and lower levels within organisations? Should the law make specific provision for the roles and activities of middle managers? If so, can that be done without concerns about over-regulation or reducing the clarity in roles in the chart above? Or should this be dealt with through guidance and other initiatives? Should the law require training of officers and managers (and if so, which managers) in work health and safety? The provision of assistance to small business in the area of work health and safety governance and management (including the promotion of mentoring by larger organisations). Measuring and bench-marking of organisational and individual performance. How to encourage and reward good performance. The development and promotion of compliance and enforcement strategies directed at the duty. officers’ Should there be any and, if so what, interaction between work health and safety leadership and or self-insurance? workers’ compensation premiums Should there be requirements for reporting, to regulators and/or to the public, on work health and safety governance and performance? How to promote ongoing research and development of safety leadership principles. How to keep abreast of changing knowledge and principles of leadership and encouraging the adoption of improvements. How to determine the process for considering changes to the duty when the officers’ harmonised work health and safety laws are reviewed (expected in or around 2017).
The duty and the definition of due diligence are necessarily broadly based, as is appropriate for a health and safety duty. The detailed requirements to achieve compliance with each of the elements of the duty must be understood and action taken. A challenge moving forward will be to provide the necessary support for officers, to provide the understanding and capability to enable them to comply with their duty and effectively lead in health and safety. A further aspect of this must be to promote appropriate roles and skill-sets at the middle management and supervisory levels, to promote appropriate leadership styles and cultures. This may be considered as a significant component of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022. But what should that strategy include? Issues to consider include: How best to inform officers of the existence and detail of the duty of an officer, including guidance on the identification of officers in an organisation. The development and dissemination of guidance and tools, to assist officers and organisations to develop and implement appropriate structures, policies and procedures for effective leadership. Who will provide this and how will it be done? What can and should be done to assist people to adopt and demonstrate appropriate leadership at the middle and lower levels within organisations? Should the law make specific provision for the roles and activities of middle managers? If so, can that be done without concerns about over-regulation or reducing the clarity in roles in the chart above? Or should this be dealt with through guidance and other initiatives? Should the law require training of officers and managers (and if so, which managers) in work health and safety? The provision of assistance to small business in the area of work health and safety governance and management (including the promotion of mentoring by larger organisations). Measuring and bench-marking of organisational and individual performance. How to encourage and reward good performance. The development and promotion of compliance and enforcement strategies directed at the officers’ duty. Should there be any and, if so what, interaction between work health and safety leadership and workers’ compensation premiums or self-insurance? Should there be requirements for reporting, to regulators and/or to the public, on work health and safety governance and performance? How to promote ongoing research and development of safety leadership principles. How to keep abreast of changing knowledge and principles of leadership and encouraging the adoption of improvements. How to determine the process for considering changes to the officers’ duty when the harmonised work health and safety laws are reviewed (expected in or around 2017).