According to Safe Work Australia, it is now the legal responsibility of the employer to ensure that the skills of staff working on site are up-to-date and compliant.
In January 2012, a new set of Workplace Health and Safety laws were introduced, putting more responsibility onto the employer to undertake ‘all reasonably practicable measures to prevent the risk to health and safety occurring’. (Source: Safe Work Australia).
A licence or ‘ticket’ is no longer an adequate measure of your workers ability to perform their tasks and operate machinery in a manner compliant with regulations.
In the unfortunate event there is an accident on site, will you be able to prove that you – as an employer – took every reasonable step to ensure the competency of your workers?
Encouraging your employees and contractors to complete their VOC training – preferably before commencing work on site – will allow you to demonstrate that reasonable measures we have been taken to ensure the health and safety of all workers on site.
