Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) in Australia is undergoing change and harmonisation. The new developments and standardisations are impacting on the workplace policies and procedures of every Australian employer and on the personal responsibilities of directors, management and personnel.
Mallesons is well placed to support its clients through these changes. Our advice is sensible, commercially-focused and actionable. Our skilled team of lawyers and legal staff will work with you to apply workplace safety legislation and requirements to your workplace situation. Our team supports clients at three key levels of business operation:
- Awareness and prevention services
- Risk management and risk avoidance, and
- Incident management and defence.
This integrated approach works to protect not only your organisation and personnel, but also your insurers by minimising, as far as is possible, the legal risks of workplace breaches and incidents.
Awareness and prevention services
Minimising legal risk starts with pro-active awareness and prevention strategies. Our services include:
- customising training to meet your specific business needs
- presenting on OHS duties to boards and associations and holding panel discussions, and
- developing OHS policies, compliance materials and online compliance tools.
- developing and organising private briefings, workshops and seminars on workplace law and occupational health and safety and other workplace relations interests
- hosting forecast workshops to ensure we continue to work collaboratively with you on emerging workplace legal issues
- including clients on our distribution list to receive industry newsletters, alerts and updates
Risk management and risk avoidance
Our risk management and risk avoidance services help our clients to manage OHS risks to avoid potential liability for businesses and their management. Our services include:
- comprehensive due diligence inquiries and assessments when acquiring new businesses and/or operations
- assisting in the development and implementation of risk management procedures, compliance systems and safety audits
- reviewing and advising on insurance contracts and coverage including drafting and/or settling of contractual terms, and
- drafting occupational health and safety clauses (including KPIs) in contracts.
Incident management and defence
In the event of a workplace incident, we will support you by:
- managing (on-site) the legal risks following safety incidents including taking of witness statements, media strategy and regulators’ investigation
- advising in respect of improvement and prohibition notices
- negotiating with regulators over the scope of charges and plea bargains, and
- acting in relation to commissions of inquiry, investigations, prosecutions, hearings, coronial inquests and any civil claims (contractual and personal injury) arising from workplace safety incidents.