The upcoming NSW Budget will include almost $2.5 million worth of funding for a world-class work health and safety centre to help drive down workplace fatalities.
Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean said the NSW Centre for Work Health & Safety within SafeWork NSW would be the first of its kind in Australia aimed at translating research into improved work health and safety practices.
“The NSW Government is deeply committed to reducing the incidence of workplace injury and illness, and making NSW workplaces the safest in Australia,” Mr Kean said.
“This new facility will help us meet our ambitious targets of 20 per cent decline in worker fatalities by 2022, and a 30 per cent reduction in the rate of claims for serious injuries and illnesses.”
Mr Kean said the centre will develop evidence-based injury and illness monitoring systems that will help SafeWork NSW predict possible risks in the workplace, and better inform policy decisions.
“The centre will pull together the latest data and research on work health and safety, which will in turn inform safer business practices and more effective regulation for workplaces across NSW – whether it’s a new approach to harm prevention or a change in operational response,” he said.
The 2017-18 NSW Budget also includes:
- $132 million to enforce fair trading laws, administer licensing regimes, provide community grant assistance, undertake regulatory reform and offer information and dispute resolution to consumers and traders
- $55 million operating budget for the Rental Bond Board, which will for the first time ever include providing open access to raw rental bond data from around the state
- $9 million to be spent over three tears on developing a safety culture campaign designed to build on the safety landscape and raise workplace awareness
- $2.5 million for enhanced injury prevention programs, compliance monitoring and safety partnerships to ensure work health and safety is integral to the Government’s major infrastructure projects
