Failure to make a report faces fines of up to $16,500, but legal experts warn this tight timeframe does not allow time to investigate all claims, whether fraudulent or genuine.

This comes into effect on January 1, 2011and requires suppliers of consumer goods to provide a written report to the ACCC within two days of “becoming aware” of illness, death or serious injury (defined as “an external physical injury, such as a serious burn, deep cut, broken bone, choking or serious fracture”).

This is regardless of the country the illness or injury occurs in and applies to all parts of the supply chain – from retailers and distributors to importers and manufacturers – and can be triggered by something as informal as an email or “anecdote” passed on from a consumer.

At present, businesses are only required to make a report to regulators after a product recall has been issued.

The two-day reporting requirement seems unreasonable.

Another concern with the tight reporting timeframe is the inability for companies to investigate for fraudulent complaints.

But be warned, you do need to have a good customer complaints system in place in your business.  You should have this in any case but this is certainly adding to the pressure.

If you don’t have a corrective and most importantly, preventive action your business is really missing out because this is the thing that triggers real growth and improvement and ends up saving you time, stress and money.

To get more information on how you can get help with this in time to protect yourself against he new rules, book in for a Blue Print Consultation straight a way or else just bite the bullet and book into the next group course - if you hurry you will catch this week’s.

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Interesting.

I think who ever ends up being Prime Minister, some climate action and some broadband improvement should be a result.  I did not like the proposed ETS because it exempted all the biggest polluters so it is hard to see how this was to be an incentive to them to reduce their emissions and switch to less taxed renewable energy.

2007 was known globally as Australia’s “climate change election” and most people predicted that in 2010, climate change would no longer be an issue.  The question is – did people vote green as the only alternative to 2 parties they did not want, or did they actually want some environmental improvement?  I doubt if many had read all the Greens policies, some of which are very odd.

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It is nonsense letting beautiful old trees die because of bureaucratic rules, while people can spend as long as they like under a shower.  Household use has not been restricted.

With the proviso that I would like to see monthly rather than quarterly bills for water so people don’t get caught out too much by the change I think this is a sensible move.  We should pay market price for the water we use and let price dictate our restrictions and change our behaviour.

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Does Alaska Show what will happen to the Gulf of Mexico and the NW Australia and Indonesian coastline?  Over 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Alaskan fishing industry is still devastated, The fish stocks are way down, there is still oil in large amounts on rocks and in sheltered inlets, the compensation was less that 10% of what was needed and people are suffering major health effects from the chemicals used in the oil “clean up”.  Plus suicides are still happening with people who lost everything.  Alaskans are very worried for the people of the Gulf of Mexico.

Indonesian fishermen are suffering from major damage to the fisheries caused by the spill in Australia’s northwest but because it is remote in Australia it has had little attention in the diagonally opposite side of Australia where most people live and policies are made.

Apparently BP are using the most toxic dispersants even though the US EPA specified lower toxicity products and there is a huge underwater layer of oil that has not been touched.

The same thing appears to be the case with coal and coal gas tailings polluting rivers in Queensland.

The process appears to allow the companies to do what they wish, allow for accidents and “shit happens” then minimise the clean up and compensation.  and none of this even touches on the climate impacts of using fossil fuels.

Can we afford to allow this type of damage to continue?  Can we afford to allow new offshore drilling?  When you look at the long term economic, ecological and social impacts of something going wrong, the cost of developing renewable energy seems much more affordable.

I want to be very clear, I am NOT anti development but let’s develop things that are less damaging.

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Every report we hear on the election outcomes is different and confusing and we are in a period of uncertainty.  The one thing that is certain is that as business owners and managers we need to keep our minds on running our businesses efficiently and reducing waste and risks.

Hopefully the various players can put their egos aside and reach a position that is good for the country.  In my opinion, the outcomes could be an improvement on having two sides beating their chests and rubbishing each other.

What looks probable is that we may have improved broadband, but not necessarily a wildly expensive approach.  That would be a bonus on both counts.

Also probable is greater fairness for rural and regional people with three rural independents.  The regional and rural sector generates so much of our export income but is ignored as far and sensible infrastructure, health and education is concerned.

We may even have a more sensible approach to environmental management.  Personally I believe that we will need a price on carbon as an incentive to restrict pollution but the big push should be to push for renewable energy and ban the development of new coal mines.  I am NOT a “greenie” and I worry about extreme policies that limit the ability of business to operate effectively.

Meantime the best approach for business owners is business as usual because small to medium business is the biggest employer group in the country and we just need to keep doing what we do well and tidying up what where we need help.

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There were two offences -failing to provide and maintain safe plant and systems of work and failing to provide information, instruction and training to employees.

During sentencing, the Judge said the incident marked a significant failure in the company’s obligations to employees working on routine maintenance tasks.

WorkSafe Victoria’s investigation found that the hand winches and lifting rope on the fixed belt clamp were in poor condition; there were no records to show that the belt clamps and ropes had been inspected or maintained; and the contractor had failed to put safe systems of work in place for working with fixed belt clamps.

WorkSafe said the incident occurred because the contractor had failed to consider all the risks. “This prosecution is a reminder that employers need to be vigilant about making sure plant and equipment is inspected, maintained, and in a condition suitable for use – and that nothing slips through the cracks.”

So what can you learn from this to protect your workers safety and your business finances – let’s face it half a million dollars is substantial.

Do you have hazards review and risk identification and management in place in your business?

If not why waste any more time?

Just join the next group starting this week and get your safety and other business risks under control.

Stop and Think-…………what would something like that do to your business?

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This is both inspirational and the correct approach.  The world is increasingly full of victims who expect maximum compensation when something goes wrong.

Those of you who are small business owners have learned the hard way that things do go wrong, bad things happen to good people and what allows a business to thrive is the mental attitude of the business owner who responds in a way that overcomes the things that happen.

Two things we should all take from this are:
1.    the need to help injured workers understand this concept and go for true rehabilitation rather than maximum compo.  True rehabilitation starts in the head and is very largely a mindset.
2.    the need to learn from things that go wrong and identify why they were able to happen so that the problem can be avoided in future.  This applies to all areas of your business, not just safety.

Still thinking about safety; each year in Queensland alone, there are approximately 100 work-related fatalities and nearly 30 000 serious injuries.  These incidents cost the Queensland economy over $5.2 billion each year.  Much more Australia wide but I don’t have those stats.  I have a Victorian example of a business that was recently fined nearly half a million dollars for a maintenance and training failure in another article.

…………..Just imagine having a simple way to identify those things in your business that are hazardous and being able to prevent or minimise, not only safety accidents but also time wasting, upset customers and missed opportunities.

And let your imagination run on to picture saving yourself time and money each year because you have a simple and effective management system in place to cover all your risks, safety, quality (customer satisfaction) and environmental.

………….Now stop dreaming and sign up quickly to the next group course starting this week.  Don’t waste any more time, just get started and you will be surprised and how much this helps you.

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The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan – a collaboration between Melbourne University’s Energy Research Institute, the environment group Beyond Zero Emissions and engineers Sinclair Knight Merz, puts the cost at $37 billion in private funding and public investment every year for the next decade.

Plus the once the technology is improved, it has just been reported that the sea off southern Australia has the best wave energy in the globe and can potentially provide all the energy Australia needs.

Let’s hope that the coal lobby does not hijack the renewable energy funding and we can move in these directions.

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Dr Last from CSIRO said southeast Australia was a “climate change hotspot” with water temperatures in some areas rising by almost two degrees and warm-water

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These facilities currently produce steel, coke, aluminium, paper and other materials and must close by late September.
Meanwhile, Australian companies in the sustainable design and building sectors can make a lot of headway in China when benefiting from the right connections, relationships and events, according to Nigel Haywood in China Connection from Beijing.

There is a five-year plan to improve energy efficiency for a 20 percent reduction in China’s energy consumption per unit of economic output, or energy intensity, by the end of this year. which has suffered a setback this year as China’s economic rebound and a construction boom boosted a demand for steel, cement and other energy-intensive products.

While China overtook the United States last year as the world’s biggest energy consumer, because of its much larger population it still is well below the consumption per person, according to the International Energy Agency.

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