Rudd Government’s attitude to WHS “deplorable”
The former Rudd Government’s reliance on state and territory governments for work health and safety oversight under its failed Home Insulation Program was “both unjustified and unreasonable”, the Royal Commission has found.
Findings
Royal Commissioner Ian Hanger’s report on the former government’s Home Insulation Program was released on 1 September 2014. It sets out seven key failings of the program:
(1) there was an inherent conflict or tension between the two aims of the program, ie economic stimulus and energy efficiency. The former required expedition while the latter required detailed and careful planning. Speed was chosen over planning and the commencement date for the program was pre-mature.
(2) The program was allocated to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Artts, which was ill-equipped to deal with a program of its size and complexity.
(3) There was a failure on the part of the government to identify and manage risks to installers. This was partly because of external advisors provided inadequate advice and assistance.
(4) The program permitted the use of a product that was “manifestly unsuitable and dangerous”.
(5) Training and competency requirements were relaxed with a view to replacing these with supervision. The nature and extent of supervision required was not specified.
(6) Phase 2 of the program was commenced without a robust audit and compliance regime.
(7) The federal government had relied on others (employers, states and territories) to oversee work health and safety. Despite this reliance, it did not communicate its expectations or requirements with the state and territory governments.
Work health and safety
In line with the Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission, a significant amount of the Commission’s time was spent on work health and safety issues. Commissioner Hanger was very critical of the Rudd Government’s reliance on state and territory governments to oversee and enforce work health and safety requirements.
“The reality is that the Australian Government conceived of, devised, designed and implemented a program that enabled very large numbers of inexperienced workers — often engaged by unscrupulous and avaricious employers or head contractors, who were themselves inexperienced in insulation installation — to undertake potentially dangerous work. It should have done more to protect them.”
The Home Insulation Program was rolled out in 2009, and lead to four deaths in 2009 and 2010. Commissioner Hanger was of the opinion that the deaths would have been avoided if the program had been property designed and implemented.
Recommendations
Commissioner Hanger also highlighted the following areas for improvement to ensure similar deficiencies are avoided in future government programs:
when allocating responsibility for new programs and projects, the capacities, resources and expertise of the relevant departments should be taken into account
senior managers must take a more active role in the projects assigned to them
roles and responsibilities should be clearly articulated amongst committees responsible for decision making
there should be governance arrangements in place for projects of a certain size to ensure that the objectives are being achieved, risks managed and resources use responsibly
the importance of frank and fearless advice should be reinforced to the public servants
risk management must be thorough, with clear responsibilities and accountabilites
governments should not be allowed to abrogate responsibility for risks
communication with the public must be targeted to the relevant audience; the language used in communications must be specific and not ambiguous
state and territory governments should be considered as options when deciding on program delivery avenues
governments should be mindful that their own assessments may be overly optimistic and unrealistic
Reflective foil laminates should be banned during retrofit installation of insulation over ceiling joists within roof cavities
homes predating the 2007 Wiring Rules should be fitted with residual current devices to replace existing fuses or circuit breakers, and
there should be minimum qualification requirements for workers entering roof cavities.
The full report can be accessed here.
Government response
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Environment Minister Greg Hunt welcomed the Royal Commission Report, noting its findings are grave.
The federal government will provide a preliminary response by the end of September 2014. A final report will be provided at the end of 2014.
Mr Abbott and Mr Hunt said the government’s response “will focus on ensuring such a catastrophic policy failure never happens again”
“This article originally appeared on CCH Australia and is reproduced with permission”
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