Health and welfare groups have called on state governments to explain the rationale for restrictive new planning laws for wind farms after finding no credible evidence that living near turbines is bad for people’s physical wellbeing.

No credible evidence had been published in peer-reviewed scientific literature linking turbines and pathological health problems.

Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy last year said the new regulations would give certainty and fairness to local communities.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

“Groundwater currently makes up about 97% of all the available fresh water on the planet and presently accounts for about 40% of our total water supply. It provides drinking water to cities, is needed to grow much of our food and sustains many industries – yet almost everywhere, there is clear evidence that water tables are falling.

This means humanity is extracting groundwater much faster than it is naturally replaced;”  said Professor Craig Simmons, Director of Australia’s National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) and member of the UNESCO’s global groundwater governance program.

One of the big problems with dropping groundwater is that rivers no longer get reliably recharged all year as they used to so that they only fill from rainfall run-off.  So rivers and lakes around the world are dwindling.

Groundwater use more than doubled the rate of extraction between 1960 and 2000 – with usage continuing to soar.

Even advanced nations such as the United States face a crisis in their use of groundwater, says Law Professor Robert Glennon of the University of Arizona.

“Groundwater now comprises one-quarter of the US supply and more than half of all Americans rely on groundwater for drinking. Unconstrained drilling of new wells, as many as 800,000 per year, has put incredible strain on aquifers around the US,” he says.

“Plummeting groundwater tables have caused earth subsidence, fissures and saltwater intrusion. It took millennia for this water to accumulate in aquifers, but humans are pumping it out in mere decades.”

Water supplies will begin running out in critical regions where they support cities, industries and food production by 2030 unless urgent steps are taken to better manage the resource, they cautioned.

Satellite studies have shown falling groundwater tables in the United States, North Africa, India, the Middle East and China, where expanding agriculture and cities have increased water demand.

When groundwater is depleted, entire industries may be forced to shut down or move. Whole regions could face acute water scarcity.”

The groundwater crisis is driven by a competition for increasingly scarce water supplies between the megacities, the energy sector, manufacturing and farming. It has been hastened by an era of cheap pumps and relatively cheap energy, making it easy to extract.

Water may well be the major limit to Chinese economic growth: groundwater supplies 40% of China’s food and 70% of its drinking water and water levels in aquifers in some regions are sinking by a metre or more a year. 660 Chinese cities have polluted supplies or are water insecure.

In the Middle East, depleted aquifers have been a major driver of the relocation of agriculture to Africa, in India, the number of wells grew from less than one million in 1960 to 19 million by 2000. Water tables are sinking beyond the reach of many farmers’ pumps.

The other comment I heard Professor Simmons say on the TV interview that I watched is that we need to take care that we know what we are permitting in new industries that could pollute and even waste our precious ground water reserves.  Industries like coal seam gas extraction.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

Victoria’s power companies are facing a dual challenge – debt re-financing plus the looming carbon tax.

In 2010, the Latrobe Valley generators had a combined $9 billion in debt and this needs to be rolled over by 2015.

Some power companies may already be close to insolvency and facing massive asset write downs on their power stations – in particular, Morwell, Hazelwood, Yallourn W and even Loy Yang A and B.

And in spite of the free credits being given under the carbon tax, the viability of long-term operations will be closely scrutinised in 2012 as companies struggle with massive refinancing costs.

Ian Nethercote, chief executive of Loy Yang Power told The Sydney Morning Herald that the company had received a ”no action” letter from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, allowing it to continue to trade after debt totalling $565 million due in November became a current liability on its books.

Obviously this company is hoping to get a substantial slice of the $5.5 billion in free carbon permits in order to keep Loy Yang A operating.

The federal government buyout of 2000 megawatts of capacity is expected to come largely from the Latrobe Valley, with some capacity also likely to close in South Australia.

While the suggested timetable for the buyout stretches to 2020, it does provide sufficient time for renewable energy supplies to build up and for two gas-fired stations in western Victoria to be commissioned to maintain supply.

However, there could well be a crisis much sooner if a global credit squeeze means that large parcels of debt cannot be rolled over.

Foreseeing this possibility, there have already been suggestions that the government may have to step in as borrower of last resort to either provide loan funds or a government guarantee.

If a major Victorian generator closed suddenly due to insolvency there would be dramatic consequences for the national grid.

This hardly looks like sustainable business.

It seems to me that government subsidies to homes AND businesses to implement solar generation where the power is being used and helping to implement energy efficiency would actually reduce the load on the power stations and be cheaper that taking on billions of dollars debt and/or building new gas fired power stations.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

Victoria’s power companies are facing a dual challenge – debt re-financing plus the looming carbon tax.

In 2010, the Latrobe Valley generators had a combined $9 billion in debt and this needs to be rolled over by 2015.

Some power companies may already be close to insolvency and facing massive asset write downs on their power stations – in particular, Morwell, Hazelwood, Yallourn W and even Loy Yang A and B.

And in spite of the free credits being given under the carbon tax, the viability of long-term operations will be closely scrutinised in 2012 as companies struggle with massive refinancing costs.

Ian Nethercote, chief executive of Loy Yang Power told The Sydney Morning Herald that the company had received a ”no action” letter from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, allowing it to continue to trade after debt totalling $565 million due in November became a current liability on its books.

Obviously this company is hoping to get a substantial slice of the $5.5 billion in free carbon permits in order to keep Loy Yang A operating.

The federal government buyout of 2000 megawatts of capacity is expected to come largely from the Latrobe Valley, with some capacity also likely to close in South Australia.

While the suggested timetable for the buyout stretches to 2020, it does provide sufficient time for renewable energy supplies to build up and for two gas-fired stations in western Victoria to be commissioned to maintain supply.

However, there could well be a crisis much sooner if a global credit squeeze means that large parcels of debt cannot be rolled over.

Foreseeing this possibility, there have already been suggestions that the government may have to step in as borrower of last resort to either provide loan funds or a government guarantee.

If a major Victorian generator closed suddenly due to insolvency there would be dramatic consequences for the national grid.

This hardly looks like sustainable business.

It seems to me that government subsidies to homes AND businesses to implement solar generation where the power is being used and helping to implement energy efficiency would actually reduce the load on the power stations and be cheaper that taking on billions of dollars debt and/or building new gas fired power stations.

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

I saw two really good quotes today so I am sharing both with you.  The first came from a sprightly 90 year old great grandmother in the USA and I totally agree!

“Successful people are made in good times and in bad times, so don’t ever forget, the “times” have nothing to do with it, it’s all about your own Mindset.”

You and all your staff do need to be aware that the customer is the one who pays the bills and everyone’s wages however this does not necessarily mean that every customer is always right.

You do need the systems in place to make sure that your business consistently delivers what was promised.  However there are definitely some customers that may not be suitable for every business.

Contract review is an important part of a quality system. You can’t please everyone and you should not try.

I have long believed that a sale is an agreement between a customer and a supplier where each person understands the terms and agrees they are mutually beneficial.

The second quote came in an article by Michel Hogan on the Smart Company website.  “The customer isn’t always right and they also make promises that they should keep.  When a customer signs a contract, makes a purchase of any kind, submits a request for a quote, signs up for a subscription, buys a trial – they are making promises to that organisation. And with those promises comes an onus on the customer to know what they are and then keep them.”

I agree Michel and I do try to make my promises clear and hopefully help you see what your commitments are as well.

You can see very clearly on my websites that I teach people to build and manage their own management systems and I am there to help all the way.

You chose one or more of the three learning methods that I give you – reading, watching video or listening, spend around two hours per week implementing what you have learned with your staff and one hour on the phone to me getting feedback and more help.

I am very comfortable if more than one person in your business wants to phone in and be part of this discussion because I encourage you to involve all your people.

If you want a fully “done for you” system then I would rather you did not come to me for help because I really want to empower you to run your own system and manage your own risks so that your management system remains relevant as things inevitably change over time.

For practical help to build and understand your own integrated management system click here

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

When we look at environment legislation there is an increasing emphasis on understanding your risks and having a systematic approach to prevention of pollution.

Although prosecutions in different States have resulted in different sentencing outcomes, judicial comments on sentencing are increasingly focusing on whether companies have been, or are currently perceived as, “good corporate citizens”, and how the company provides systems of enforced internal accountability.

•    There is a trend towards significantly higher financial penalties being ordered in prosecutions for breaches of State environmental legislation around Australia.
•    Many prosecutions have utilised alternative penalty legislative provisions in sentencing, for money to be paid to environmentally beneficial projects instead of (or in addition to) fines being paid directly to the court.
•    Preventative and proactive environmental measures can reduce the likelihood of a costly and resource-intensive public prosecution being brought against a corporation by an environmental regulator.
•    Companies prosecuted for environmental breaches should also be aware that a range of other factors will be considered by the courts in deciding the amount of a penalty, such as the level of cooperation with the regulator, a plea of guilty at an early stage, the amount the corporation has already expended for clean up, and whether systems (for example equipment upgrades) have been put in place to prevent a similar incident occurring.

Having a system that involves all your people with workshops and procedures that you develop specifically for your business is what ensures a consistent approach.

It also reduces staff turnover because it boosts confidence and reduces employee stress.  Your people know what to do in each situation, builds a good staff culture and saves you lots of time, stress and money.

It is well worth investing the time into getting good training and assistance in this area.  An environmental management system like ISO 14001 can save your business far more than the cost.  For help here go to www.enviroaction.com.au

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

If you work from home, or you employ people who work from home be careful.

Safe Work Australia’s memorandum on the bill says it “adopts a broad definition of worker instead of employee to recognise the changing nature of work relationships and to ensure health and safety protection is extended to all types of workers”.

This all sounds warm and fuzzy until you look at the recent case against Telstra.

However a recent ruling against Telstra means it is time to stop and think about occupational health and safety in the home environment.

Telstra had to provide workers compensation to an employee working from home who hurt her shoulder after falling down a flight of stairs while on break at home.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal found in June this year that Hargreaves’ injuries had occurred in the “course of employment”, and depression and anxiety she developed was caused by issues involving her return to work plans.

Telstra was ordered to pay the cost of all medical and related treatment expenses, and weekly compensation payments “in respect of incapacity for work for all periods when Ms Hargreaves’ ability to earn was less than the normal weekly earnings,” as well as costs related to the action.

This sounds like madness to me but we need to listen and learn from it.

If you work from home, your home is your workplace and you are both a worker and an employer.

You do need to do a hazard identification, a risk assessment for each risk and a plan to remove or manage each risk that you detect. Plus you need to have a safety policy.

It is worth going to www.integratedisosystems.com/thank-you.html to ask for a copy of the five biggest dangers facing small to medium businesses in 2012.

It is a fact that smart people prevent things happening to themselves, their families, and their business.  I am sure you want to be one of the smart people don’t you?

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

Yet another area of risk to be managed.

Almost 500 companies and individuals were convicted in the September quarter for taxation and superannuation offences, an increase of 20%, and 12 people were sentenced to jail, for a maximum of five years.

Good grief!  That is almost five each week.

The prosecutions were of a variety of offences, including non-lodgement of forms and receiving a fee for preparing an income tax return on behalf of a taxpayer while not being a registered tax agent, the ATO said.

Convictions included:
•    A New South Wales concreting business owner fined $17,000 for 21 offences for failing to comply with court orders to lodge quarterly business activity statements.
•    An Australian Capital Territory bus driver fined a total of $6,600 for three offences for failing to comply with court orders to lodge income tax returns.
•    A senior partner in a NSW partnership was fined $8,500 in total for seven offences for failing to lodge GST returns and four offences for failing to lodge income tax returns.
•    A NSW building construction company fined $16,000 for 10 offences for failing to lodge income tax returns.
•    A NSW plumbing company fined $22,000 for 16 offences for failing to comply with court orders to lodge four income tax returns and four GST returns.

Nine were prosecuted for goods and services tax and excise-related fraud, and collectively were sentenced to more than 16 years’ imprisonment.

These included a company director from Western Australia who understated cash business sales by more than $5.6 million with intent to underpay GST obligations by $514,000 for two companies. The individual was sentenced to three years’ jail.

Another director, this time from a NSW stockbroking business, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for claiming false GST input tax creditors, after submitting 23 fraudulent business activity statements and attempted fraud of almost $1 million.

Separately, two accountants from NSW and Queensland were prosecuted for income tax related fraud offences and sentenced to a collective six-and-a-half years jail.

ATO was focusing on refund fraud, which is attempting to obtain a tax return dishonestly by deception or other means. Methods include:
•    Making claims using false or stolen identities.
•    Deliberately over-claiming deductions, offsets or expenses, by providing false or misleading information.
•    Understating income and/or fictitious payment summary details.
•    Intermediaries deliberately lodging false claims on behalf of clients (with and without client knowledge).
•    Fraudulent returns prepared by people acting as tax agents who are not actually registered.
•    Scams where people are tricked into giving away personal details.

Yasser El-Ansary, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia tax counsel, says the ATO will likely “devote even more of its horsepower to prosecuting these crimes in the future.”  “It’s a question of when you get caught” not if.  You need sensible risk management planning in place in your business to prevent accidental legislative breaches

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

With recent technological advances, avoiding the commute, it’s no surprise more workers are asking to work from home.   This is especially the case where women have young children.

For businesses flexible working arrangements can deliver a competitive advantage.

However a recent ruling against Telstra means it is time to stop and think about occupational health and safety in the home environment.

Telstra had to provide workers compensation to an employee working from home who hurt her shoulder after falling down a flight of stairs while on break at home.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal found in June this year that Hargreaves’ injuries had occurred in the “course of employment”, and depression and anxiety she developed was caused by issues involving her return to work plans.

Telstra was ordered to pay the cost of all medical and related treatment expenses, and weekly compensation payments “in respect of incapacity for work for all periods when Ms Hargreaves’ ability to earn was less than the normal weekly earnings,” as well as costs related to the action.

This sounds like madness to me and was described by an industrial lawyer, Freehills partner Kate Jenkins  as “pretty frightening one for employers”.

I have copied a lot of this and attributed it to those who wrote it, because I want to get it right for you.  It is a bag of worms!

Rae Phillips, founder and director of human resources consultant Inspire Success, says the ruling provides a message to small- and medium-sized business that they need to be proactive and organised when it comes to flexible work arrangements.

It might be as simple as a paragraph detailing the responsibilities of employers and employees, she says, or as complex as an extensive agreement which delivers rights of entry for the employer to inspect the home.  But you do need to sit down and agree where the limits are.

Kate Jenkins of Freehills says working from home came to prominence a couple of years ago when the Fair Work Act encouraged businesses to accept flexible working arrangement requests – such as working part-time, job sharing or working from home – unless there are reasonable business grounds to reject them.

The onus on business is higher when the request is driven by the employee’s carer responsibilities. Companies must also be cognisant that refusing a request for flexible working arrangements might breach state and territory discrimination laws.

Industrial relations experts are quick to point out that the increased focus on working from home has not just been driven by legislation, or employees for that matter, but because employers recognise the benefits of flexible workplace arrangements – from happier workers, to improving your appeal to prospective employees and having “fresher” part-time workers rather than worn-out full-time staff.
Supervision is not really an issue because employers can easily figure out if productivity or work quality is dropping off through regular emails, phone calls and deadlines.

However there is now an OHS minefield
The obligation to OH&S extends beyond employees. If you have contractors working from home or in a home office and one of them zaps themselves or gets their hands struck in the shredder, your obligation is no less.”

One thing to keep in mind that it is not just the working area that needs to be safe in a home office, but also facilities such as the kitchen and bathroom.

What to do
When faced with a request to work from home, Kate Jenkins from Freehills says business should start the process by thinking about the employee’s role, the barriers to it being performed effectively from home, and how those barriers could be overcome.

Kate Jenkins and Freehills partner Harold Downes and Freehills solicitor Kathryn Bion have more advice for companies facing work from home requests:
•    Consider a trial before making a commitment.
•    Put your decision-making process, and arrangements, in writing.
•    Set up a broader policy to be used company-wide.

Rae Phillips says although Inspire Success generally sets up the home office of its employees, who all work from home, it gives employees a checklist for self-audit rather than send someone in to tick the boxes.

This is my take on the subject also.  Train your workers to use a hazard checklist and risk analysis and give them a checklist that you require to have returned completed.

The worker is then making a commitment they have a safe work environment

“For a larger business with a lot of people, maybe in that situation it’s practical to have inspectors. But for a small business, it’s not as practical.”

Another issue to consider is whether an employee feeling under the weather and therefore unable to head into the office should be permitted to finish off a few things at home before going to the doctor or bed.

The employee avoids going into the office, and gets key jobs out of the way so they don’t have to play catch up when they return. The employer isn’t caught with one less worker, and doesn’t have somebody spreading germs around the office.  But consider the OH&S implications of it first.

For more information about occupational health and safety and protecting yourself with a practical approach go to http://www.integratedisosystems.com/as-nzs-4801-safety-management.html

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

The new Fair Work Ombudsman has reported that 26% of 1,800 businesses surveyed were incorrectly paying their employees

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman told SmartCompany this morning the Government needs to do a better job of informing businesses about correct rates of pay and breaking down the law into easy-to-understand terms.

Zimmerman says about 50% of the calls made to the ARA by employers are about HR or industrial relations matters.

“There are a very large number of retailers that are obviously having difficulties understanding the current law. It shows there is confusion, and when you look at the report, you see examples such as a florist with only four employees.”

It is the small end of town being affected because major retailers have HR departments to figure all this out.

This is not a surprise to me as I hear so many of my clients muttering about this, the fact that the rates are gradually changing and needed to be updated each year and that phoning the Fair Work department often does not help.

More than half a million dollars in back pay has been awarded to more than 750 workers across Australia, with 41% of total underpayment instances coming from New South Wales. And there are 224 businesses still under investigation.

Zimmerman of the Retailers Associations says the Ombudsman should be doing more.  “We need to make sure businesses are paying staff correctly, but the Government needs to offer more support. There is a desperate need for ongoing education, especially for retailers.”

This is just one area of potential non- compliance with regulations  thay can put your business at risk.  For more information on avoiding The Five Biggest Dangers Facing Small To Medium Businesses In 2012 go  to www.integratedisosystems.com/thank-you.html

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.con

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com