Business SA has questioned whether the Minister for Industrial Relations, John Rau, has lost confidence in SafeWork SA with mooted changes to the education and compliance functions of the organisation.

A State Government discussion paper – Transforming Work Health and Safety Performance –  questions whether the compliance and enforcement role of ReturnToWorkSA (in relation to injured workers returning to work) could be merged with an enlarged regulator role by SafeWork SA (which deals with safety in the workplace).

The paper also canvasses whether the education function of SafeWork SA could become the management responsibility of ReturnToWorkSA.

Rau says in the paper that he wants “to clearly separate work health and safety compliance and education functions”

“I want work health and safety inspectors to focus on ensuring that the laws are not being breached and where they are, that suitable enforcement action is taken,” he says.

“I want educators who are not inspectors to concentrate all of their efforts on providing support to workplaces. This support will include education around how to prevent workplace injuries but also if injuries do happen, how to deal with injured workers and support their return to the workplace.”

In a submission to Rau this week, Business SA says it does not support the proposal “to combine the compliance functions of ReturnToWorkSA with the compliance of SafeWork SA”.

Business SA maintains that the ReturnToWorkSA compliance and enforcement functions to enforce employers’ legal obligations under the Act require very different skill sets to inspectors in SafeWork SA.

“Business SA does not see how combining all the varied regulatory functions would improve Work Health and Safety in South Australia,” the submission says.

“This proposal also raises questions about the Minister’s confidence in SafeWork SA as the proposal argues that ‘it is time for the regulator to establish a culture of responsiveness, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness’.

“If the Minister does not have confidence in SafeWork SA the solution is not to separate the functions but rather change the culture within the management team. A good example of where this has successfully occurred is ReturnToWorkSA.”

On the suggestion that the education function of SafeWorkSA be transferred to ReturnToWorkSA, Business SA says the proposal to “establish a new Educator body that reports directly to the Minister also raises more questions about the Minister’s confidence in the current operations of SafeWork SA”.

In light of the issues raised, Business SA encourages Minister Rau to have “proper consultation” with stakeholders and undertake a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the proposed revamped regime before any final decisions are made.