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Better communication essential to improving Work Health & Safety outcomes for Small Business
22 Jun 2018 | Archive
“Part and Parcel – Working with Small Biz; It’s in the delivery” is the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s new campaign to generate awareness of Work Health & Safety (WHS) amongst Small Businesses and to draw attention to the barriers they face in improving health and safety.
“Although there has been an increased focus on small business recently, more needs to be done,” Australian Chamber CEO, James Pearson, said today.
“Part & Parcel is the Australian Chamber’s way of facilitating dialogue and helping governments communicate better with Small Business to improve health and safety in the work place.
“WHS needs to be about more than just compliance – it needs to be about genuinely helping to protect everybody in the workplace.
“The Australian WHS regulatory environment is complex and not geared to the realities of Small Business.
“WHS support should be easy to get hold of, easy to understand and easy to use for those in Small Business who are time poor and don’t have dedicated WHS staff.
“We want a working environment where small businesses are not afraid to share their experiences in public forums, or afraid to ask the Regulator or their Inspectors for assistance directly without fear of persecution.
“Policy makers need to know more about how health and safety is managed within Small Business, the barriers and enablers and how their workforce – employers and employees alike – might benefit from innovative practices, Mr Pearson said.
The Part & Parcel campaign is being launched off the back of the ‘Enabling Safe and Healthy Workplaces for Small Business’ report, also released today by the Australian Chamber.
The report was commissioned by the Chamber in partnership with the Department of Jobs and Small Business and academics from the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ).
The report highlights the disconnect between policy makers, regulators and SMEs and explains why better communication is needed to improve workplace health and safety.
“We are calling on respective Federal, State & Territory WHS Ministers and authorities to support our top ten recommendations to improve the way WHS regulatory practices are managed and communicated to small business,” Mr Pearson said.
“This campaign will provide a unique opportunity for all who advocate for small business to work together to facilitate change.”