Safe Work Australia recently launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of occupational lung disease to protect workers from breathing in hazardous air.

The national campaign seeks to educate persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs), such as employers or small business owners, on how to eliminate or manage the risk of their workers developing an occupational lung disease.

The campaign will run until December and includes information on how to identify and assess hazards, how to manage and control risks and how to monitor the workplace.

“Not all hazards in the workplace are visible. It’s important to identify if your work processes are creating hazards such as dusts, gases, fumes or vapours, that if inhaled can cause lung disease,” said Safe Work Australia CEO Michelle Baxter.

“Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) must ensure the health and safety of their workers – this includes protecting their lungs.”

Safe Work Australia is providing PCBUs with information on how to eliminate or manage these work health and safety risks as part of their risk management process.

“This is not a one-off – all control measures need to be reviewed regularly to make sure they are still working and controlling the risk," said Baxter.

The campaign targets four high-risk industries:

• Manufacturing: workers can be exposed to hazards in the air that are invisible to the naked eye, such as fumes and dust.
• Construction: workers can be exposed to hazards like dust from concrete and fumes from welding.
• Engineered stone: workers can be exposed to silica dust in all parts of their work process – from preparing and working on the slab, to cleaning up the workplace and disposing of waste.
• Agriculture: workers can be exposed to a range of hazards in the air, such as pesticides, chemicals, and fuels

Original article published by Australian Institute of Health & Safety

Message from the FIA CEO.

The FIA continues to work closely with SafeWork NSW, SafeWork Australia and other SafeWork departments across the country, as well as ministerial departments at both State and Federal level, advocating for improved safety conditions, funding, access to government grants and support for workers, education and skills training for our members and the Australian Formwork industry.

Over the past year we have been one of SafeWork's industry liaison partners, sharing the content SWNSW distributes, contributing to their content, working together and campaigning tirelessly on our members behalf. The formwork code of practice is only one example of the work we have produced together. 

Over the coming weeks we will update you on other work and more importantly how this affects your organisation and your workers.

As we have indicated before changes are coming, legislation is being formed and the way we work will change. There will be implications for your business, both positive and negative, and whilst COVID has kept us apart, the FIA Board and team have been advocating on your behalf at both Federal and State levels. 

The future of major infrastructure investment presents many opportunities for our members, but with a formwork skills shortage and incident rates far too high there are many challenges ahead. The FIA will continue to work with SafeWork NSW, the NSW and Federal Government, as well as other State departments, to advocate on your behalf for:

• access to better safety education and training, 
• access to government funding to support your organisation and workers,
• better regulation,
• clearer WHS plans,
• access to more business opportunities for our members, and
• rewards for compliance.

Look out for updates and if you want to speak to us for more information do not hesitate to contact me.

In the meantime, SafeWork NSW recently launched their updated 'Building and Construction WHS sector plan to 2022'.

We attach a link to it below and the Minister's message to the market.

Minister's Message.
The Hon. Kevin Anderson MP, Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation.

"Here in NSW we are laying the foundation for solid growth in the building and construction industry. Recently, the NSW Government announced a record $108.5 billion pipeline of infrastructure projects planned for the four years to 2024-25. Some large-scale projects are already underway including the Western Sydney Airport, Snowy 2.0 in the Kosciuszko National Park, the second Sydney Harbour tunnel, and freeway infrastructure upgrades state-wide.

To coincide with this record infrastructure investment, the NSW Government launched the Building and Construction Work Health and Safety Sector Plan to 2022 (the 2018 Sector Plan) in July 2018, calling out the major harms, illnesses and safety priorities in the industry at that time.

Since the launch of the 2018 Sector Plan, we have seen positive progress against the key priorities, strong cooperation and collaboration from industry, and the deployment of many targeted safety initiatives to drive down fatalities and serious injuries. Any injury or fatality in the construction sector

is one too many. It is devastating to see high numbers of serious injuries and incidence of injury and illness in the sector when compared with other industries, and the NSW Government is committed to working with industry to continue to drive these numbers down.

This document represents a renewed focus of the 2018 Sector Plan in response to emerging issues such as COVID-19, increasing infrastructure spending and industry and workforce changes. Importantly, this document demonstrates that the NSW Government maintains a focused approach to supporting key work health and safety risks within the construction industry.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the development of this plan. I am confident the industry and the NSW Government will continue to work together to drive down serious injuries and fatalities, while ensuring that workplaces in the building and construction industry are safe and supported".

DOWNLOAD THE UPDATED PLAN

  

Many business owners have been so focused on keeping their businesses afloat during the last 18 months that they have neglected their personal finance. When you look at your personal wealth situation are you happy with the plan that you have for your future retirement? What things could you change today to affect your desired retirement?

Accumulating wealth is the goal of any good investor, but is all wealth created equal? And how you rate the investments you currently have?

In terms of being able to fund your retirement lifestyle and becoming financially independent, a rough guide is to have an amount that can support withdrawals of 5 per cent a year. For example, those who wish to spend $100,000 a year would need at least $2 million invested.

And don’t forget tax. People would need more than $2 million invested to fund $100,000 a year after tax, also assuming their investments are of a quality that can maintain at least 5 per cent earnings.

Here are 10 key things to weigh up when analysing the quality of your investment portfolio.

1. Goals and objectives – how much do you want for your retirement and when do you plan on retiring? If your goal is to have cash to fund a certain lifestyle, then the 5 per cent rule of thumb above is the best approach. But if the goal is instead capital accumulation, the types of investments required are different.

2. The structure for holding investments is important, too. It affects accessibility and also tax. A 65-year-old having all their investments in superannuation is great for minimising tax and optimising accessibility. But the same can’t be said for a 50-year-old who cannot access their superannuation until they retire.

3. Understanding your liquidity – can you access the funds when you need them? If you need to access funds to cover living and over expenses, having investments tied up in areas such as property is not ideal – managed funds or shares are much easier to access.

4. Diversity – how are your investments spread across the broad asset classes? Australian shares, international shares, property/infrastructure, fixed interest and cash? Within each class, how well have you diversified? An Australian equity portfolio containing just the big four banks does not represent diversification. Managed funds can be useful to improve your diversification.

5. What level of risk are you prepared to accept? A cautious investor may prefer less risky assets, like cash or bonds, but these won’t deliver a 5 per cent return in the current environment. The traditional 70/30 asset allocation split that was providing returns of 7-8 per cent is now predicted to return closer to 4-5 per cent over the next 10 years. Lifting the riskier part of a portfolio to 80 per cent, with the remainder in fixed interest and cash, could boost the average annual compound return by about half a percentage point, to between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent.

6. Quality of investments – Make sure you seek out the ratings and reports of researchers to find out the true quality of investments.

7. Expected returns - Different investments have different return profiles over different periods of time. They also have different tax outcomes. Capital growth tends to be more tax effective, for example, than the yield on income-producing investments.

8. Timeframe – The duration of your portfolio is key, are you investing for the long term (potentially even for the next generation) or are you investing to create funds to buy property in the next five years?

9. Don’t forget wealth protection. The use of superannuation and trusts can be effective in protecting investments from creditors. Insurance products such as income protection can help protect accumulated wealth if you can no longer work.

10. And finally, is the wealth administered and structured in a manner that will be easy to bequeath to beneficiaries upon death? This includes keeping reliable records and making sure beneficiaries know where these records are kept.

If you feel you have considered all of these factors appropriately, congratulations! If not, use this opportunity to improve your wealth rating in as many areas as possible.

HLB Mann Judd have specialists in different areas of personal wealth management to help you achieve your financial goals. These include superannuation, insurance, debt and estate planning experts as well as personal wealth advisers.

If you would like to speak to an adviser about your personal situation, please contact Kim Kelloway at HLB Mann Judd on 02 9020 4285 or email kkelloway@hlbnsw.com.au.

Author – Michael Hutton, Partner, Personal Wealth Management, HLB Mann Judd

As business models have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health toll on many workplaces has heightened.

Now, more than ever, leaders and business owners need to rethink their approach to workplace mental health by consulting staff and reviewing policies and practices.

The benefits of this can create a positive workplace culture that promotes, manages, and supports, mental health, where employees can be their best and your business can too.

Want to know how mentally healthy your business is? The NSW Government’s Workplace Pulse Check is a quick 11-question survey, that will score how mentally healthy your workplace is and compare your results to other businesses of the same size and in the industry.

You will get practical actions to improve your score, and can share the results with other leaders and colleagues to get everyone on board to making your workplace mentally healthy.

Take the Pulse Check

Conducting regular checks and updates of safety measures in the workplace is an important step to ensure they are working well. As your business changes, make sure you adjust your safety strategies to suit. Visit the SafeWork NSW website to see how well your workplace manages risks and to access helpful templates and tools.

Access the managing risks toolkit

Update from Worksafe Victoria.

Workplace incidents can happen when we lose our focus on safety. It's possible that adhering to COVID compliance rules has caused you to change your normal workplace practices. So while keeping your workplace COVID safe is essential, don't lose focus on keeping your workplace safe from incidents too.

Fatigue in the workplace

Any workplace can be impacted by work-related fatigue – this guide is to assist employers' understanding of the risk factors in order to minimise the likelihood of work-related fatigue occurring.

FIND OUT MORE

This year during Safe Work Month SafeWork NSW are focusing on protecting workers at risk. In these challenging and changing times, Safe Work Month is an ideal time to think about the health and safety of your workers.

Any workplace can pose risks to staff whether they work in an office, from home or a construction site.

Find out More about Safe Work Month

There are many considerations that employers need to work through in terms of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of employees. FIA Legal Partner, Kingston Reid, have put together a summary of the key considerations to help employers navigate managing COVID-19 vaccinations in your workplace.

1. Who is mandating the vaccination?

a. If it is the employer, the direction needs to be both lawful and reasonable. Any direction needs to (at a minimum) be based on WHS risk considerations, implemented following consultation and be reasonable in terms of the timeframe by which employees must be compliant and any medical contraindication;

b. If the requirement is imposed by way of a Public Health Order (or equivalent), be clear about precisely who is covered by the requirement.

If in doubt, seek advice before taking any further steps.

2. Socialise the requirement with employees in advance (if possible)

If time permits, consult with the workforce about the WHS benefits of being vaccinated before issuing more formal communications to them about the requirement. This will increase the likelihood of identifying potential objections at an early stage and having an opportunity to have further discussions with those who object or express reservations.

3. Does the employee have a permitted exemption (also known as a medical contraindication)?

a. If valid evidence is provided – consult with the employee about the implications of the contraindication. This needs to factor in the controls that you have identified as part of your COVID-19 risk assessment process;

b. If the evidence provided is unclear / not satisfactory:

i. request further information from the employee and, if needed, consider directing them to attend an independent medical examination;

ii. determine whether they are to remain on leave pending resolution (and, if so, what kind of leave) or whether alternative arrangements will be put in place to enable them to perform work (taking into account the controls that you have identified as part of your COVID-19 risk assessment process)

4. What if an employee is not exempt and is failing or refusing to be vaccinated?

a. consider the employee’s grounds for not complying and consult with them about those grounds;

b. if there is scope to allow the person an exemption, consider whether or not to grant an exemption and the terms of that exemption;

c. if there is no scope to allow an exemption, or an exemption is not to be granted:

i. consider giving the person a limited period of time to comply and determine what leave arrangements will be put in place during that period;

ii. if the individual remains non-compliant:

1. if the employer is mandating the vaccination – explore other options (for example, extended leave of absence with no guarantee of being able to return; arranging a telehealth appointment with a GP to explain the pros and cons of vaccination) and, if considered appropriate, commence a disciplinary process;

2. if the vaccination requirement is imposed by PHOs – consider whether the employee’s non-compliance is sufficient to bring the employment relationship to an end.

5. Privacy considerations

a. Information about a person’s vaccination status is sensitive health information and needs to be treated as such in accordance with the Privacy Act and the employer’s privacy policy;

b. An employer can require an employee to disclose information about their vaccination status if:

i. such disclosure is required under the relevant PHOs; or

ii. the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of the employer’s functions or activities (e.g. to assist in a WHS risk assessment, to discharge other WHS obligations, to ensure compliance with a PHO or vaccination policy)

c. In most cases (other than when required by law or a PHO), the employee will need to give their consent (express or implied) to the disclosure;

d. When requesting proof of vaccination status from an employee, the employee should be informed of:

i. the reason for the request

ii. what is being requested (for example, is it a copy of an immunisation status or COVID vaccination certificate)?

iii. the consequences if the employee refuses to provide the information

iv. whether the information will be disclosed to any third parties

Dominic Fleeton
Partner
+61 3 9958 9616
dominic.fleeton@kingstonreid.com

Christa Lenard
Partner
+61 2 9169 8404
christa.lenard@kingstonreid.com

JobSaver participants will need to start performing fortnightly testing to confirm continued eligibility for the grant. Earlier this month Service NSW announced that 13 – 26 September 2021 will be the first fortnight for which confirmation will be required.

Although the announcement was a surprise to businesses and advisors, at least we now know the required action that business owners must take.

Step 1 – Measure Decline in Turnover

Although the familiar 30% decline* requirement is unchanged, the comparison rules have changed.

You will now have to compare the fortnight in question (for example, 13 September – 26 September) to either:

Where a business has used a period greater than 14 days in their original application, a 14 day average will need to be used. That is calculated by dividing the turnover by the days in the testing period and then multiplying by 14.

* On 2 September 2021 it was announced that some Not for Profits would be eligible for JobSaver under a lower 15% decline. We are still seeking further information on this change generally and how it relates to this new testing.

**comparison period’ refers to the period used to represent normal trading in the original JobSaver application. These were the allowable periods in 2019, 2020 or the 12-25 June 2021.

Step 2 – Assess Employee Headcount

Although maintaining employee headcount has always been a requirement of JobSaver, you will now need to confirm ongoing compliance.

The original conditions still apply to the definition of maintaining headcount, such as employees leaving outside of the control of the employer being okay.

Step 3 – Lodge Your Confirmation

Updates will need to be lodged via your Service NSW business profile for each fortnight.

Fortunately, Service NSW state that no further documentation will need to be lodged as part of this confirmation. It will therefore be simply a disclosure of your findings from Steps 1 and 2.

Documentation of any testing must be kept, even if lodgement isn’t required.

It should also be noted that where a business has been inactive during lockdown, Service NSW will not expect any testing of turnover.

Confirmations are lodged via Service NSW

Other Important Details

It is possible to delay lodgement of each JobSaver update. You won’t receive payment until the confirmation is lodged, but payment will still be available once that occurs.

Where a business finds they don’t experience the required decline in one fortnight and miss out on payment, they are still open to re-application into the JobSaver scheme for future periods.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PETER BEMBRICK

HLB Mann Judd Tax Consulting

Keeping our community COVID safe remains as important as ever. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, even if they are only mild, get tested immediately. 

For the latest COVID-19 updates visit the NSW Government website. Current updates in brief: