This section goes through some safety issues that affect bush regenerators to assist everyone involved.

Disclaimer. This section gives a brief overview of some issues. It is not exhaustive or definitive. If you find mistakes or want to add to something please contact us. If you are an employee seek advice from your supervisor. Employees and employers can get a lot more from the organisation in their state that manages work place safety.

This page has an overview of basic ideas and legislation. The other sections deal with some of the issues specific to bush regenerators.

Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) is a term that has gained common usage to describe the issues involved in creating & maintaining a safe work place. With the introduction of national legislation Workplace Health & Safety (WH&S) is replacing it.

WH&S is a major issue for all those involved with working in bushland; land owners & managers, workers, both paid & volunteers, & contractors.

Everyone has rights and responsibilities under legislation and a duty of care to keep a work place safe for all those who use it. Everyone involved in a workplace is expected to be aware of WH&S and to have the required degee of training and equipment to safely carry out all the tasks they have to perform.

There are now uniform laws that govern the implementation of WH&S in each state and territiory, eg the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

Each Act is supported by regulations eg the NSW Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011. They specify in detail the responsibilities, obligations, duties and rights of all those in a workplace including management, workers and volunteers.

Each state has an organistion that oversees work place safety. They manage the state workers insurance schemes, investigate breaches and produce resources for risk reduction. They are the first place to seek more information.

Queensland – Workplace Health and Safety Queensland; www.deir.qld.gov.au/workplace/index.htm

New South Wales – WorkCover Authority NSW; a href=”http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au”>www.workcover.nsw.gov.au

Victoria – WorkSafe Victoria; www.worksafe.vic.gov.au

South Australia – SafeWork SA; www.safework.sa.gov.au/

Western Australia – WorkCover WA; www.workcover.wa.gov.au

Tasmania – Workplace Standards Tasmania; www.wst.tas.gov.au/

Safe Work Australia is an independent statutory Federal agency responsible to improve occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation arrangements across Australia; http://safeworkaustralia.gov.au

The “In Safe Hands” tool kit is an Occupational Health and Safety tool kit for conservation volunteers. It is available at this link.