Offshore jobs are some of the highest risk jobs. Offshore workers regularly undertake dangerous tasks in some of the most remote and isolated parts of the planet.
But these jobs have some of the weakest safety protections in Australia.
A patchwork of legislation offshore leaves powerful multinational corporations to design their own safety cases, with minimal requirements to consult with workers or their unions, and decide whether or not to comply with Australian standards or require electrical workers to hold an Australian electrical licence.
And unions are severely restricted in their ability to inspect or prosecute contraventions.
Thousands of offshore workers don’t even have coverage by any Australian safety legislation or work health and safety regulator.
This is putting workers at risk. 25% of ETU offshore members surveyed say they have witnessed unlicenced electrical work. 55% have witnessed WHS breaches on offshore sites.
This has to change. Safety cannot stop at the shore.
The ETU is taking part in a joint union campaign to improve workplace safety and licensing laws in the offshore oil and gas, offshore energy generation, and maritime sectors.
The ETU is calling on the Government to make legislative changes to:
- Bring the safety duties of employers in offshore settings up to the same level as employers onshore and extend all the protections of the WHS Act to offshore workers.
- Ensure that safety contraventions offshore can be investigated and prosecuted in the same way that they can be under the WHS Act, including entry rights for Union officials to inspect contraventions.
- Ensure that the same licencing laws that protect workers onshore apply to offshore workers, so that only workers licenced to the Australian standard are performing electrical work.
The ETU has been campaigning for these changes for over a decade.
Simon and Matt are two ETU members who have shared their experiences of working offshore – highlighting the risks that workers are exposed to when employers in the offshore space are left to set their own safety standard, without the framework of the WHS Act and without consistent licencing requirements.