FED:Company calls for tougher safety rules

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2011
FED:Company calls for tougher safety rules

By Andrea Hayward

CANBERRA, April 4 AAP - A tougher regulatory framework is needed to reduce the unacceptable
level of workplace deaths in Australia, construction group Leighton Holdings says.

The company has called on the federal government to improve safety regulations, particularly
in the construction game, by adopting a regulatory framework that includes clients and
designers involved in procurement.

It has recommended the adoption of the UK's design and management construction regulation.

Leighton Holdings chief executive David Stewart said there was a real opportunity to
introduce a new framework while national occupational health and safety (OHS) approaches
were being harmonised.

"Australian workplaces should be among the safest in the world," Mr Stewart said.

"Currently they're not, which is simply unacceptable.

"The fact is that the number of accidents and fatalities in construction is far too
high and the incident rate has not shown any real signs of improvement over the past five
years."

Mr Stewart said that, sadly, Leighton Group was not immune from workplace deaths.

"Despite safety being an absolute focus across all our operations, we have continued
to experience fatalities," he said.

As many as half of all workplace injuries and fatalities stem from a failure to take
account of OHS considerations at the design and procurement stage of construction projects.

There was compelling evidence safety outcomes were positively influenced by the direct
involvement and commitment of clients to safe construction, Mr Stewart said.

"When everyone involved with the construction process is responsible for safety we
get less people killed and injured," he said.

The company wants to work with the government to deliver safer workplaces.

In response to draft regulations published by Safe Work Australia Leighton, has recommended
a regulatory framework based on the UK's construction design and management regulations.

"This regulatory framework puts a specific set of obligations on clients and designers
as part of the construction procurement chain," Mr Stewart said.

AAP ah/sb/dep

KEYWORD: CONSTRUCTION

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