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DEPARTMENT NEWS
ARE YOU OUR NEXT WORKSAFE INSPECTOR? Last year, Premier McGowan announced a State Government investment of $12.9 million in new initiatives to enhance workplace safety and health. ... TYC
Initiatives included an additional 24 full-time staff with 21 new inspectors. This funding will help ease community and industry concerns about the number of inspectors. This is a significant boost in the number of inspectors, bringing WA into line with numbers in New South Wales and Queensland and ensuring the ratio is met of one inspector per 10,000 employees in Western Australia. Multiple inspector positions are being advertised. Inspector positions have been specifically allocated to the construction, transport and retail teams, for regional centres and in specialist areas such as asbestos. Nine additional inspectors will join the Industry and Regional Team, four will be added to the Service Industries and Specialists Team and a further eight will join the Investigations Team. Recruitment of new inspectors is progressing with new inspectors undergoing inspector training, or at varying stages in the process of recruitment.
WHAT DO INSPECTORS DO? WorkSafe inspectors play an important part in workplaces by enforcing the occupational safety and health laws and by helping workplaces to improve and resolve safety and health issues. Inspectors have a wide range of responsibilities and duties, along with the authority to enter, inspect and examine workplaces to investigate breaches of safety and health laws.
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Inspectors discuss the management of safety issues at work with employers, employees and supervisors and managers. Depending on the circumstances, inspectors may issue improvement and prohibition notices, conduct inspections and interviews, take samples, photographs and copies of documents and take possession of materials as evidence. Inspectors often deal with sensitive and at times emotional situations. They require effective communication, analytical and negotiation skills. Inspectors need to be able to: • gather and analyse detailed information to formulate workable solutions to workplace safety issues • plan and schedule work to deal with competing priorities • gain the cooperation of others even when a situation is challenging or confronting.
THE PROCESS OF BECOMING A WORKSAFE INSPECTOR When an applicant is successful in attaining a position as an inspector, he or she is placed into a specific team of skilled inspectors. Training is undertaken for seven to eight weeks, during which time the recruit visits workplaces with an experienced inspector on one day a week. Practical training, guidance and support alongside the program of formal training is provided. The WorkSafe Western Australia Commissioner conditionally appoints new recruits as inspectors with the provision that they can only use the Act powers when with an experienced inspector.
