A focus on the avoidance of workplace accidents and employee safety, across a number of sectors, has increased in recent years, and employers are committed to ensuring exceptional compliance with occupational health and safety laws in order to ensure that accidents don’t happen at work. Notwithstanding this, workplace accidents may still happen and businesses should be prepared to manage these situations.
In the event of a workplace accident resulting in injury or a fatality, we provide legal advice and assistance with every aspect of the statutory processes which stem from such an unfortunate event.
We assist clients by:
- providing advice on reporting obligations – specifically which content should be provided to regulators and insurers;
- advising what information must be shared publicly and with which interested parties;
- advising and representing employers and/or involved persons in statutory investigations and inquiries into workplace accidents;
- preparing statements, witnesses and evidence bundles required by regulators in investigations into workplace accidents;
- providing advice and representation in relation to administrative and enforcement action taken by regulators, including work stoppage instructions and contravention notices following a workplace accident;
- advising on appeals and reviews of implemented enforcement action; and
- providing advice in relation to and representing employers in criminal prosecutions stemming from workplace accidents.
In terms of managing workplace inspections and incident response, we have developed
Webber Wentzel Alert. Webber Wentzel Alert is a web-based tool that helps launch an automated emergency response at the click of a button to quickly mobilise the right people and expert advisors into action. It ensures that a pre-identified group of individuals (internal and external) are notified of a workplace inspection / incident and at what site (business premises). It also provides best practice customised guidelines and checklists to ensure that the business response is legally compliant and organisationally aligned.
