❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice regarding WorkSafe's handling of unsafe asbestos removal, including call volumes, response times, enforcement actions, and procedures for ensuring compliance with improvement notices. The response provides data on enquiries, notices issued, and procedures in place.
AnsweredQoN 3269Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(2) How many calls does WorkSafe receive on average per day from members of the community about the unsafe removal of asbestos materials?
(3) Is there a gazetted response time for an inspector to visit a worksite once concerns about the unsafe removal of asbestos materials have been brought to WorkSafe’s notice; and
(i) if yes, what is that gazetted response time; and
(ii) if not, why not?
(4) How many work improvement notices have been issued by WorkSafe regarding the unsafe removal of asbestos in the last 12 months?
(5) Regarding the unsafe removal of asbestos materials, what are the three most common concerns that result in a WorkSafe inspector issuing a work improvement notice?
(6) What procedures does WorkSafe have in place to ensure that the work improvement notices that have been issued regarding asbestos removal are acted on?
(3) Is there a gazetted response time for an inspector to visit a worksite once concerns about the unsafe removal of asbestos materials have been brought to WorkSafe’s notice; and
(i) if yes, what is that gazetted response time; and
(ii) if not, why not?
(4) How many work improvement notices have been issued by WorkSafe regarding the unsafe removal of asbestos in the last 12 months?
(5) Regarding the unsafe removal of asbestos materials, what are the three most common concerns that result in a WorkSafe inspector issuing a work improvement notice?
(6) What procedures does WorkSafe have in place to ensure that the work improvement notices that have been issued regarding asbestos removal are acted on?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
6 May 2008
Responded by
Minister representing the Minister for Employment Protection
Response time
35 days
The Employment Protection arm of the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection advises:
(1) The WorkSafe division of the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection (DOCEP) has 90 FTE inspector positions for the Perth metropolitan area. Allowing for vacancies, leave, training, sickness and other duties such as regional inspection programs, WorkSafe records indicate that 60 authorised inspectors were on duty in the Perth metropolitan area on 28 March 2008.
(2) A search of the WorkSafe Information System Environment database indicates that in the period from 28 March 2007 to 28 March 2008, 706 enquiries were received in relations to asbestos. This equates to an average of around three enquiries per business day. As the database does not contain a category specifically for enquiries relating to the unsafe removal of asbestos materials, the figure of 706 represents all enquiries about asbestos. The figure of 706 also includes written and emailed enquiries.
(3) There is no gazetted response time. However, WorkSafe has a prioritisation policy for enquiries and accident investigations dealt with by inspectors. This policy is followed by team managers in WorkSafe's Operations Directorate when allocating enquiries to team members for investigation.
(4) A search of the WorkSafe Information System Environment database indicates that in the period from 28 March 2007 to 28 March 2008, 27 improvement notices specifically relating to asbestos removal were issued. In addition 12 prohibition notices were issued in this period.
(5) Improvement notices are issued when an inspector forms the opinion that a person is contravening or has contravened the
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984
or the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 in circumstances that make it likely that the contravention will continue or be repeated. Generally, notices relating to asbestos removal work concern failures to perform the work in accordance with the relevant parts of the National Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos referenced in the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.
New regulations are currently being drafted to introduce a new licensing requirement for work involving the removal of more than ten square metres of bonded asbestos material. The aim of the new licensing scheme will be to improve awareness of the dangers of working with asbestos material and improve compliance with the safe working procedures set out in the National Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos. The Minister for Employment Protection would be willing to brief the Member for Alfred Cove on the proposed new licensing scheme if required.
(6) Each improvement notice specifies a date by which compliance with the requirements of the notice must be achieved. WorkSafe must be notified when the notice has been complied with and has a process in place for following up outstanding compliance notifications. In addition, WorkSafe randomly selects a proportion of notices for follow-up investigations.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
(1) The WorkSafe division of the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection (DOCEP) has 90 FTE inspector positions for the Perth metropolitan area. Allowing for vacancies, leave, training, sickness and other duties such as regional inspection programs, WorkSafe records indicate that 60 authorised inspectors were on duty in the Perth metropolitan area on 28 March 2008.
(2) A search of the WorkSafe Information System Environment database indicates that in the period from 28 March 2007 to 28 March 2008, 706 enquiries were received in relations to asbestos. This equates to an average of around three enquiries per business day. As the database does not contain a category specifically for enquiries relating to the unsafe removal of asbestos materials, the figure of 706 represents all enquiries about asbestos. The figure of 706 also includes written and emailed enquiries.
(3) There is no gazetted response time. However, WorkSafe has a prioritisation policy for enquiries and accident investigations dealt with by inspectors. This policy is followed by team managers in WorkSafe's Operations Directorate when allocating enquiries to team members for investigation.
(4) A search of the WorkSafe Information System Environment database indicates that in the period from 28 March 2007 to 28 March 2008, 27 improvement notices specifically relating to asbestos removal were issued. In addition 12 prohibition notices were issued in this period.
(5) Improvement notices are issued when an inspector forms the opinion that a person is contravening or has contravened the
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984
or the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 in circumstances that make it likely that the contravention will continue or be repeated. Generally, notices relating to asbestos removal work concern failures to perform the work in accordance with the relevant parts of the National Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos referenced in the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.
New regulations are currently being drafted to introduce a new licensing requirement for work involving the removal of more than ten square metres of bonded asbestos material. The aim of the new licensing scheme will be to improve awareness of the dangers of working with asbestos material and improve compliance with the safe working procedures set out in the National Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos. The Minister for Employment Protection would be willing to brief the Member for Alfred Cove on the proposed new licensing scheme if required.
(6) Each improvement notice specifies a date by which compliance with the requirements of the notice must be achieved. WorkSafe must be notified when the notice has been complied with and has a process in place for following up outstanding compliance notifications. In addition, WorkSafe randomly selects a proportion of notices for follow-up investigations.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.