SafeWork NSW will be the subject of a six-month investigation following allegations it did not do enough to protect workers from the risk of serious injury or death, in addition to accusations that inspectors felt pressure from political interference with the agency.
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed the investigation exclusively, noting that the state’s Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford, would lead the audit, the announcement of which followed concerns aired by opposition work and health safety spokeswoman Sophie Cotsis.
In one document obtained by the SMH, for the Investigation Decision Making Panel at SafeWork, showed that in 2017, SafeWork inspectors went to a site and found serious contraventions of asbestos safety legislation.
Inspectors witnessed a young woman breaking up friable asbestos without the appropriate PPE, while subcontractors at the site were shown to not have the appropriate training for friable asbestos handling work or PPE.
The report noted that the company in question had an “extensive compliance history under two entities and had received prohibition notices and improvement notices in relation to the matters”. SafeWork dismissed the recommendation for further investigation.
In response to the audit, Minister Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello said that “NSW Parliament passed legislation in 2015 to abolish WorkCover, and replace it with iCare, SIRA and SafeWork NSW as three separate entities.”
“SafeWork NSW is the only one of those three entities that has not been independently reviewed since the reforms. For that reason, a review of the operations of SafeWork NSW is now appropriate.”
“This review will look at issues raised in recent weeks and provide the Government with independent insights that will be both powerful and instructive.”