Industrial Relations Update | October 2024

National Safe Work Month

A workplace competition, an incident simulation, four webinars and two mock trials are among the events being promoted by SafeWork SA as part of this year’s campaign.

The topics include Safety is everyone’s business with weekly sub-themes including Work health and safety fundamentals, Psychosocial hazards, Risk management fundamentals and Musculoskeletal injuries.

Most concerning is the latest Safe Work Australia data shows a total of 195 Australians were killed at work in 2022, including 14 in South Australia.

A Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) study on quad bikes in South Australia recommended:

1. increasing the use and purchase of side-by-side vehicles, which are more stable
2. regulations to ban children under the age of 16 from riding adult-sized quad bikes
3. promoting the use of helmets
4. developing helmets that provide protection while being suitable for day-to-day work.

In addition, the following events are also available free of charge during this month:

1. Playford Civic Centre Mock Trial – Thursday 10 October
2. Cove Civic Centre Incident Investigation – Monday 14 October
3. Cove Civic Centre Mock Trial – Monday 21 October
4. Click here to register for one of our National Safe Work Month webinars
5. ‘Organise Your Own Workplace Activity’ competition.

By registering an activity with SafeWork SA, businesses will go into the running to win a prize from our $2,000 prize pool. The competition runs throughout the month so workplaces can register their activity anytime until 31 October 2024.

A full calendar of events is available on SafeWork SA’s National Safe Work Month web page.

To stay in touch with the latest SafeWork SA news and events, subscribe to their e-news or follow SafeWork SA on social media via Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Download your free National Safe Work Month resources including posters, social tiles and digital assets here.

Portable Long Service Leave

The SA Government has committed to expanding access to portable long service leave in South Australia – modelled on the existing Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987.

The Government concluded that the community services sector is a priority area for portable long service leave, noting the sector employs a high proportion of women, involves work that is emotionally and physically challenging, and which is subject to high staff turnover and short-term employment arrangements.

Whilst the intention is to create an Act to establish a scheme for the portability of long service leave in the community services sector, it should also be noted that it seeks to provide for the ability to extend the scheme to employees in other sectors (highlighted by me), and for other purposes.

What does this mean? If the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987 is the model, then in that industry, each workplace an employee works, that employer and subsequent employer in that industry will be required to contribute into a Long Service Leave (“LSL”) Fund. As the employee moves from one workplace to another within that industry, each employer in that chain is required to contribute to the same LSL Fund. At the end of 10 years (or pro rata on termination of employment) regardless of how many employers the employee worked for in that time, the Fund will pay out the long service leave entitlements and not the employer at the time.

If the employee does not remain in the industry, the contributions along the way will remain in the Fund and are not refunded to the contributing employers.

Members’ Industrial Relations Advice

Livestock SA members are entitled to contact MERS for a free half hour consultation, per member per year. Our telephone number is 08 8331 2422 and email chas@mers.com.au