WorkSafe staff on their own as regulator becomes law unto itself

Who regulates the regulator?

That’s what many former and current WorkSafe ACT employees are asking amid revelations that the independent authority has its own workplace culture problems.

It appears that WorkSafe is a law unto itself without oversight from any other ACT Government body if the government response to questions about the catalogue of issues raised by staff and the public sector union going back years is any indication.

The government said the ACT work safety regulator was given independence to remove the potential influence of government agencies and officials in matters that it regulates.

All very well, but there is usually an oversight body established to keep the regulator accountable. For example, the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security was established to provide additional oversight of Australia’s security and intelligence agencies.

In fact, this very question was raised during the organisation’s transition phase, according to a former employee involved at the time, but the idea never saw the light of day.

That has left WorkSafe employees or their union representatives with nowhere to go with complaints or concerns other than their managers.

The government says: “WorkSafe ACT employees have access to a range of whole of government tools and resources to support their health and safety at work and are able to access mechanisms available under the Public Sector Management Act and their enterprise agreement to address workplace relations issues and grievances that they may have.”

However, the reality appears very different, according to the CPSU and the growing number of former and current employees contacting Region.

The CPSU letter sent to the government in May last year was the result of multiple complaints, not just from a few disgruntled former employees.

For the government to brush off legitimate questions about how WorkSafe is being run and hide behind its independence leaves the current employees stranded in an unregulated and potentially unsafe workplace.

The WHS Commissioner Jacqueline Agius has taken the well-worn path of using a court case to avoid scrutiny, even though much of the letter’s claims predate the current matter before the Federal Court.

But this will not go away.

The CPSU says it will continue to raise these issues, and the testimonies from former employees continue to build a picture of dysfunction and lack of procedural fairness that is still impacting the health of staff and the integrity of their work.

That calls into question whether Canberra’s workplaces are being regulated properly.

The tragedy is that the staff Region has spoken to all had passion for workplace safety and believed they could make a difference, but their experience has left them demoralised and some psychologically damaged.

There will be more revelations highlighting longstanding issues that have not been addressed, and that the setting up of the independent workplace regulator has been a failure.

WorkSafe is still suffering churn, staff are still experiencing the issues raised in the CPSU letter and they have no redress.

The government is fully aware of this, Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Mick Gentleman knows this and while Commissioner Agius appears in denial, the buck stops with her.

Watch this space.