WHY COMPLY?

In the confusion of attempting to overcome an ever increasing level of compliance people tend to forget that it is not ‘just paperwork’ that they are doing.  What they are actually doing is protecting themselves, their business and their employees.  Compliance requirements are there for a reason, usually a historical reason.  Grievous injuries and deaths spark off a reaction in the community that demands the attention of government.  Inevitably and as a preventative measure laws and standards are developed to prevent a similar accident from occurring again.   A prime example is the current fatigue investigations in the transport industry.  As most would be aware this issue has spread to the extractive and mining industry and is believed to be the cause of accidents in underground mines.  A more recent case in the transport industry saw a company pay substantial damages to an employee who had been fatigued at the time of an accident.  Some industries have already implemented guidelines or a code of practice to deal with this issue. 

Some quarry sites may even be in the process of participating in the recent fatigue survey on the extractive industry of Victoria.

Many companies who have experienced a serious workplace incident will profess that they did not think it would ever happen, because surely if they considered it a possibility they would have done something about it.

Slowly the extractive industry is becoming pro-active in developing methods to reduce workplace accidents and prevent environmental incidents.  Ideally the industry would reach a point where it has measures in place that prevent an incident from occurring before there are any previous cases that force it to make the change.

So despite that it often seems like too much to deal with, the intention is good.  Like any good invention it takes time to iron out all the creases.

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