OHS laws a hammer blow to small business | health and safety ...

RED tape connected with proposed national workplace safety laws will drive up the cost of a new home by tens of thousands of dollars, the construction industry has warned.

The sector has lined up behind volunteering groups, which claimed last week they could go to the wall because of the consultation and reporting requirements that accompany the proposed national occupational health and safety regime.

A report by consultants Hudson Howells, commissioned in South Australia by the Housing Industry Association, says the compliance cost associated with OHS laws could drive up the cost of a new single-storey home in that state by $20,690, and of a double-storey home by $29,335.

Extrapolating from SA data provided by the HIA, the report says compliance costs associated with the laws could wipe up to $16 billion a year off national productivity and cost as many as 120,000 jobs.

While the report concedes there are also benefits to a single national regime, it questions the federal Labor government's claim of a net annual benefit to the economy of about $250 million, arguing there is no data to back this up.

But whatever the duelling economists say, Adelaide cladding sub-contractor Stuey Hampton is in little doubt about the impact the OHS laws will have.

"This will kill us," he said yesterday. "It will wipe out independent contractors."

Mr Hampton, 39, who employs three tradesmen, says workplace authorities should be chasing down and prosecuting unlicensed operators, not making life harder for the honest contractors.

An example he gives is a requirement in the new laws that, as a "high risk operator", he must complete a "safe work method statement" whenever he sets up his equipment, then revise it whenever "relevant control measures are revised" -- a situation he says will exist every time he moves his ladder.

"I can try and pass those compliance costs back on to the building firms," said Mr Hampton.

"But are they going to be prepared to pay?"

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten yesterday acknowledged contractors such as Mr Hampton have real concerns about the laws, which have so far been implemented in Queensland and NSW.

"My intention is to reduce the amount of red tape," he said.

"I've clearly got to reduce the amount of paperwork small business has to do in connection with OHS compliance. The states remain the regulators but we'll be asking them to co-operate."

Mr Shorten said he particularly wanted to reduce the paperwork associated with weekend work. "Like the rest of us, tradesmen and contractors deserve to spend a lot of time with their families at weekends."

Peter Goode, managing director of mining and infrastructure giant Transfield Services, said uniform laws should be positive for the construction sector, but there was a danger states would import their pet regulations back into the system. "As with all these things, it's about the implementation," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/ohs-laws-a-hammer-blow-to-small-business/story-e6frgczx-1226250793360

Source: http://www.safetyinaustralia.com.au/safety-news/7362-ohs-laws-a-hammer-blow-to-small-business.html

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