OHS Compliance Puts Lives in Danger
Further reading: Knowing When to Break the Rules
9 News reports that a Government Department admitted during the New South Wales flood inquiry that life-saving help was withheld due to health and safety regulations.
Government authorities fronted the inquiry into the flooding disaster that devastated parts of NSW and resulted in multiple loss of life.
The inquiry heard that Maritime NSW refused to allow their boats to be used to rescue residents from rooftops because they weren’t properly trained.
Instead, dozens of locals launched kayaks, jet skis, surfboards and small boats and performed the rescues themselves. The so-called “tinnie army” ignored directions from the State Emergency Service not to enter the flood water and has been credited with carrying out hundreds of rescues.
Liberal MP Catherine Cusack said: “People literally were dying while publicly funded boats sat in sheds because of OH&S”
It was also revealed that a school in Ballina was told, by a public servant, to shut down as an emergency evacuation shelter because it wasn’t officially approved.
The Principal of the School stated: “One of my staff members was asked what credentials she had to be supporting evacuees. Confused, she asked for clarification. She was pressed further: ‘What title do you have as a support person?’, she replied ‘GSD, we get s— done.”