Most businesses that employ staff across states must comply with up to eight different work health and safety regulatory regimes.
It's a complicated, red-tape heavy system.
But a bill before Parliament could change that if it is passed.
A Senate committee last week gave the green light to the federal government's Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill 2014, saying big changes to the existing system are "necessary to significantly reduce compliance costs, simplify processes and boost productivity and efficiency for businesses that operate and employ across multiple jurisdictions".
The proposed changes will see a significant streamlining of WHS obligations for businesses that operate in more than one of the country's states or territories.
As things stand under current laws, few organisations are able to satisfy the legislative requirements to obtain self-insurance under the Comcare scheme and coverage under the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act.
This is because it relies on a highly subjective and largely irrelevant "competition" test, which restricts licensees to current and privatised Commonwealth authorities and businesses that compete with them.
The net effect is that multi-state employers who are not licensees are required to comply with up to eight different WHS regulatory regimes.
National harmonisation of WHS legislation has already been pursued, yet substantial differences in state-based regimes and the approaches taken by distinct regulatory bodies are still prevalent.
Many of Australia's largest businesses are forced to manage compliance with often complex and burdensome regulations across the various jurisdictions in which they operate.
For example, under the current system, a national logistics operator has to implement a range of policies and procedures that accommodate varying safety standards from state to state and their long-haul drivers need to be aware of their differing personal responsibilities and obligations as they travel down the Hume Highway and cross the border from Albury to Wodonga.
If the SRC Bill becomes law the "competition" test will be abolished in favour of a new "national employer" test. This entails a corporation being required to meet obligations under workers' compensation law in at least two Australian jurisdictions, being a self-insurer, or being a self-insured employer in at least two Australian jurisdictions.
Multi-state employers which are able to satisfy this test will be eligible to self-insure under the Comcare scheme (subject to other financial thresholds and standards being met) and be covered by the Commonwealth WHS Act irrespective of the locality in which they are operating.
Given the significant financial undertakings licensees have to give, this scheme may not be for everyone. But for those employers who opt in, the beauty really will be in its simplicity – a nationally consistent WHS regime governed by a single national regulator.
With strong recommendations in favour of the SRC Bill being put forward by numerous parties, including the Department of Employment and the Senate committee, and limited opposition, it is likely the bill will pass.
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