Protecting safety of Tasmanian workers

Elise Archer,Minister for Building and Construction

The Tasmanian Government is committed to ensuring that all Tasmanians are protected in the workplace.

Reports that WorkSafe Tasmania does not investigate workplace fatalities appropriately are false.

To set the record straight, WorkSafe Tasmania investigates every work-related workplace death in which WorkSafe is the lead jurisdiction, with no exceptions.

Where work-related deaths involve motor vehicle accidents on public roads or aviation incidents, other regulators such as Tasmania Police, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator or the Civil Aviation Safety Authority lead the investigation.

There are a wide range of incidents notified to WorkSafe Tasmania, not all of which require workplace attendance by an inspector. Notifications are triaged, then followed up by either a workplace inspection or contact by telephone or email.

Workplace safety is first and foremost the responsibility of businesses or undertakings and the people who work within them, pursuant to the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. They have the primary responsibility to investigate and remediate the causes of serious incidents.

The Government continues to invest in the WorkSafe Inspectorate to enable inspectors to engage with and educate industry and workers, as well as monitor and enforce compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.

In the 2019/20 State Budget, our Government demonstrated its commitment to ensuring the health and safety of workers by investing in the permanent recruitment of an additional 5 inspectors to be deployed statewide. This increased the number of field active authorised inspectors to 45.

The Tasmanian Government wholeheartedly supports the work health and safety regulator.

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