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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 550 asked in the Legislative Council on 10 June 2020 by Hon Jacqui Boydell

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

MENTAL HEALTH — FLY IN, FLY OUT CODE

550. Hon JACQUI BOYDELL to the minister representing the Minister for Mines and Petroleum:

I refer to question without notice 312 asked by me in this place on 4 April 2019 regarding the document ''Code of Practice: Mentally healthy workplaces for fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers in the resources and construction sectors''.

(1) Please outline the process that would alert the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety to the failure of a company to comply with the code?

(2) How many reported failures to correctly apply the code has the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety recorded since May 2019?

(3) What action has been taken by DMIRS to ensure that companies comply with the code in the future?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for Mines and Petroleum.

(1) The mentally healthy workplaces code of practice is not a prescriptive document, nor is it legislative. The code of practice encourages a risk management approach to psychosocial safety and aims to provide guidance on how to comply with the safety legislation. It does not create a reporting requirement. If an employer is failing to meet its legislative workplace safety obligations, including psychosocial, the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety would become aware through site inspections, via injuries and incident reporting by employees, and by complaints, contacts or inquiries from industry employees or other persons impacted who notify the department. There is no specific mandated reporting process under the code.

(2) The code is not a legislative instrument.

(3) When considered appropriate, DMIRS will make contact with the employer to discuss what appropriate steps are necessary to meet the intent of the code. DMIRS actively promotes the code to all industry and provides various resources on its website.