Extended-hours roster delay unacceptable

The trial of a response extendedhours roster began on November 5, 2020, in the Western District (response teams) for 30 weeks (three full rotations of the 10-week roster) The Police Journal outlined this in April 2022 (Front-line well-being still to be addressed)

The Police Association and SAPOL had agreed to trial a response extendedhours roster through enterprise agreement 2016.

The whole point of the trial was to improve the health and well-being of front-line police . This had the support of an internationally recognized sleep and fatigue expert commissioned by SAPOL

The rapid-rotation cycle (two day shifts, two afternoon shifts, two night shifts) – and remuneration with the all-inclusive allowance of 23 per cent in lieu of current shift penalties – enabled additional days off per year owing to the extra hours worked in the shift.

The association has continued to express its concern directly to SAPOL given the failure to finalize the trial

SAPOL e-mailed the membership (March 28, 2022) and referred to a number of “negative business impacts” and the trial was extended The e-mail asserted that this “is the most significant change to SAPOL’s response roster in 40 years”

The establishment of a steering committee came about and an association representative took part in it while a contracted research team conducted further data analysis

On December 23, 2022, the association formally withdrew from the committee as it chose to seek yet more analytical research and further assistance from a roster consultant

Delays are unacceptable

The district policing model does not, and cannot, provide sufficient resources to address members’ work health and safety Nor does it meet the demand for services – a demand which continues to exceed capacity. (See District policing model a major fail, Police Journal, August 2022 .)

A model which lacks the staff to make it workable and suffers from a historically unhealthy roster is clearly dangerous to members and, by extension, the community

This is particularly so given that the failure to recruit has meant inadequate staff numbers to replace those lost through resignations and retirements

The opportunity clearly exists for SAPOL to follow the example of interstate and overseas police forces in adopting an extended-hours roster.

The current Work Health and Safety Act 2012 does not contain an offence of industrial manslaughter

In its industrial manslaughter discussion paper, SafeWork SA indicates that, currently, the highest offence under the act, (section 31) category 1, a breach brought about by reckless conduct incurs a penalty of:

• $300,000 fine and/or five years’ imprisonment for an offence committed by an individual

• $600,000 fine and/or five years for an offence committed by an individual conducting a business, or officer of a business

• $3,000,000 fine for an offence committed by a body corporate A person can currently be charged with manslaughter where death is caused either intentionally, recklessly or negligently at the workplace pursuant to the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935.

Other states and territories have amended their relevant work health and safety legislation to introduce the offence of industrial manslaughter

In NSW, the amendment lapsed in May 2022 In Tasmania, industrial manslaughter is not currently an offence

Attorney-General Kyam Maher penned a letter in November last year highlighting that, during the 2022 state election, the government committed itself to the introduction of legislation to make industrial manslaughter a criminal offence.

His letter detailed a list of elements of the consultation draft of the Work Health and Safety (Industrial Manslaughter) Amendment Bill 2022 :

• “The offence will apply where a person has been reckless or grossly negligent in conduct which breaches a work health and safety duty under the WHS Act and which results in the death of an individual

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