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WA INTRODUCES NEW INDUSTRIAL MANSLAUGHTER LAWS

The Western Australian Government’s new work health and safety (WHS) laws commenced on 31 March 2022.

The new laws are intended to improve protections for the state’s workers, bringing WHS for general industry, mines and petroleum operations together under a single statute in an Australian first.

They recognise modern work relationships, such as subcontracting and the ‘gig’ economy, and introduce the term ‘person conducting a business undertaking’.

The changes mean that anyone who engages a WA worker now has a legislated duty to protect their health and safety. A key component of the change is the introduction of industrial manslaughter laws.

They specify that officers (senior decision-makers) must exercise due diligence to comply with the laws, and that the responsibility for workplace safety sits with the leaders of an organisation.

These new provisions carry a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment and a $5 M fine for an individual and a maximum $10 M fine for a body corporate.

It is important to note that insurance will no longer cover penalties, meaning that people who breach the legislation will be held accountable for their actions and be responsible for financial penalties.

The new laws bring WA into harmony with the other states and territories, except Victoria, which is making its own changes to WHS legislation.

This means that the leadership of companies across Australia will have similar obligations and requirements wherever they operate.

For more information, visit www.dmirs.wa.gov.au/WHS.

WA executives now have a greater responsibility to keep their employees safe.

Fire and Rescue NSW won the 2021 Resilient Australia National Award for their evidencebased fire safety education for children program.

PHOTO: AIDR

SUBMISSIONS OPEN FOR 2022 RESILIENT AUSTRALIA AWARDS

The Resilient Australia Awards return in 2022 to celebrate and promote initiatives that build whole of community resilience to disasters and emergencies around Australia and promote images capturing resilience in action.

The awards recognise collaboration and innovative thinking across all sectors.

Submissions and nominations are now open in each state and territory across seven categories: business, community, government, local government, mental health and well-being, school and photography. Submissions close on 6 June 2022.

The Resilient Australia Awards are proudly sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with the states and territories and are managed by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.

PHOTO: STORYBLOCKS

Queensland builders need to hold money in trust for their subcontractors.

DOES QUEENSLAND’S PROJECT TRUST ACCOUNT LEGISLATION APPLY TO YOU?

Since March 2018, project bank accounts have been used on certain building, construction and services contracts in Queensland. In 2020, the Queensland Government amended the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 to simplify the regime, and the latest phase started on 1 January 2022, since when accounts have been required for non-government contracts.

The requirement currently applies to contracts worth $10 M or more, but will drop to a threshold of $3 M from 1 July 2022 and $1 M from 1 January 2023.

Given the administrative and financial burden of complying with the regime and penalties for noncompliance, parties should ensure they are prepared well before the relevant date for commencement.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) has developed a project trust account tool to help parties determine if a project trust account is required, which can be found at https://my.qbcc.qld.gov.au/ myQBCC/s/trust-accounts-tool.

A publicly available register of trust accounts can be found at https:// my.qbcc.qld.gov.au/myQBCC/s/trustaccount-register.

As always, practitioners should seek legal advice about whether they are covered by this legislation.

CHANGES TO THE SA MANAGED FIRE ALARM SERVICE

Telstra has been commissioned by the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service and SA Country Fire Service to upgrade the state’s fire alarm monitoring service (including alarm signalling equipment, network communications, installation and support services) through the Managed Fire Alarm Service (MFAS).

A new, improved MFAS is being rolled out, which will provide owners with a more secure, flexible and functional solution for protecting their building.

All contractors and staff who will need to access the new alarm signalling equipment (for example, to set it into test mode), must complete a short online training course and be registered to the new TransIT Fire Platform.

Telstra will be separately contacting all identified site contacts to advise when their sites will be upgraded and how they can undertake the training. These MFAS upgrades will be made at no additional cost to building owners, providing they are performed in business hours and in line with the upgrade program.

For further information, please contact the Telstra MFAS Operations Manager on 1800 959 555 or email mfasoperations@team.telstra.com.

The Centre of Excellence for Prescribed Burning webinars are available online.

VALUING ECOLOGICAL ASSETS—WEBINAR SERIES

The Centre of Excellence for Prescribed Burning has developed a three-part webinar series: ‘Valuing ecological assets to correct the bushfire management investment balance’. The topics covered in the series encourage a more holistic mindset when making decisions about the application of prescribed fire. The webinar series includes:

„ Episode One—with Mark Finney,

US Forest Service This presentation summarises some familiar questions concerning approaches to fire management, identifying ‘valuable assets’ and ways to ensure their protection. Our experience and scientific evidence favours proactive management rather than emergency response, accepting fire as an ally rather than declaring it an enemy.

Watch online: https://youtu.be/3-n_wLD4O_k. „ Episode Two—with Wayne Gerard,

Ben Twomey and Andrew Sturgess,

RedEye RedEye present its vision for solving the multidimensional problem of shifting the investment focus around the irresistible forces that drive response expenditure and post-disaster recovery costs. Its bushfire platform aims to elevate natural assets in prevention and preparedness thinking, and provide a traceable, consistent, science-based methodology to quantify how investment in mitigation changes bushfire risk.

Watch online: https://youtu.be/w8tVKF8XU1w. „ Episode Three—with Kamaljit Sangha,

Charles Darwin University Determining bushfire-related environmental loss is critical to understanding the total economic costs of bushfires and to plan for disaster management and resilience policies. When bushfires destroy our environmental assets, current techniques typically fail to consider or document their loss because there is no loss of infrastructure. Developing appropriate accounting techniques to estimate disaster-related losses from environmental and human well-being perspectives is essential.

Watch online: https://youtu.be/HweTcEBbj-s.

IN MEMORY OF ADAM DAMEN

On 22 February 2022, Adam Damen passed away at the age of 40 after a battle with cancer. Adam worked for many years in the area of radio communications and aerial intelligence technologies for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria. He had a great passion for this type of work and made a significant contribution towards the evaluation and development of aerial intelligence technologies, on a national basis, working with his colleagues in other agencies around Australia and with the National Aerial Firefighting Centre.

The National Aerial Firefighting Centre offers its sincere condolences to Adam’s family, friends and colleagues, and expresses gratitude for his significant contribution to the sector.

NATURAL HAZARDS RESEARCH AUSTRALIA CEO TO RETIRE

Dr Richard Thornton, CEO of Natural Hazards Research Australia, will retire in June. Dr Richard Thornton has announced his retirement for the end of June this year.

Dr Thornton has had an accomplished 20-year career in natural hazards research in Australia—as Research Director of the Bushfire CRC (2004–13), then CEO of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC (2013–21), and finally as CEO of the new Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) from July 2021.

Having been appointed to lead the Centre through its busy establishment year, Dr Thornton decided that the time

PHOTO: DAVID BROADWAY was right for him to move on to other projects.

“It has been a privilege to watch the growth and impact of natural hazards research over the years,” he said.

“The CRC program enabled us to harness this good work and link it in with the needs of those who are preparing for and responding to natural hazards across Australia. The funding of Natural Hazards Research Australia for ten years from 2021 by the Australian Government was a testament to the success of this model of doing collaborative research with real-world uses, and I am proud to be a part of its formation.”

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe AO, Chair of the Centre, said Dr Thornton’s work was a remarkable legacy for natural hazards research in Australia.

“Over the course of the last 20 years, the outcomes of the CRCs have saved lives, homes, businesses and communities,” she said.

“The Board thanks Richard for his leadership over many years and his legacy developing a globally recognised capability of research in natural hazards mitigation, response and recovery.”

You can read the full statement from the Centre’s Board at www.naturalhazards.com.au/newsand-events/news/statement-boardceo-dr-richard-thornton-announcesretirement.

AFAC WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS TO NETWORK

AFAC is pleased to welcome one new Member and two new Affiliate Members to its network.

Surf Life Saving NSW has joined AFAC as a Member, with CEO Steve Pearce appointed as the delegate to the AFAC National Council.

Ambulance Tasmania and the National Biosecurity Response Team have joined AFAC as Affiliate Members.

AFAC welcomes the participation of Surf Life Saving NSW, Ambulance Tasmania and the National Biosecurity Response Team in the AFAC Member network.

Learn more about AFAC Membership at the AFAC website: www.afac.com.au/teams/network.

SCHOOLS NAME NATIONAL LARGE AIR TANKER

Bishop Druitt College Coffs Harbour, St Patrick’s College Campbelltown and Christian College Geelong have been selected as joint winners of the National Large Air Tanker (LAT) Naming Competition.

The Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie, visited Bishop Druitt College on 24 March, 2022, to congratulate one of the winning schools and announce the National LAT’s future name.

The three winning schools all proposed the name ‘The Phoenix’. Students from the schools said that it is “a symbol of renewal and rebirth”, that the National LAT “is curing the land with its tears by putting out fires” and that it will allow “new life rising from the ashes”.

The competition received entrants from every Australian state and allowed young Australians to get involved and contribute to Australia’s disaster resilience.

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The Tasmanian Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management accepts the Stewart and Heaton Leading Practice in Mental Health Award.

STEWART AND HEATON AWARD WINNERS LEAD WELL-BEING MASTERCLASS

Since 2019, the Tasmanian Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management (DPFEM) has been working across emergency services to support personnel well-being through the ‘MyPulse’ program.

MyPulse is a collection of health and well-being content and services offered to ambulance, fire, police and state emergency services personnel in Tasmania. It is tailored specifically to their unique needs and place in the community, and includes well-being coaching, educational resources, face-to-face sessions and health clinic consultations.

These proactive and preventative services are designed to provide early intervention and support to mitigate health and well-being risks for emergency service workers, while also establishing trust and reducing stigma about physical and mental health issues.

In recognition of the MyPulse program, DPFEM was awarded the Leading Practice in Mental Health Award, sponsored by Stewart and Heaton, at the virtual AFAC21 Conference and Exhibition in October 2021.

A component of the award is a masterclass on a topic of the winner’s choice, sponsored by Stewart and Heaton. DPFEM has decided to run a masterclass, ‘Wellbeing: the Tasmanian context’, with support from the AFAC Mental Health and Wellbeing Network.

The masterclass, to be hosted in Sydney and virtually on 11 May 2022, will explore how emergency services in Tasmania have worked together to redefine every aspect of supporting people. Its purpose is to describe the approach taken, the investments made and the outcomes achieved. The masterclass will commence with an examination of the strategic approach, and it will then look to the awardwinning preventive MyPulse program.

The second session of the masterclass will look at something completely different: how the Australian Antarctic Division delivers well-being support to expeditioners. The final session will focus on the well-being support response to the Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle disaster that occurred in Tasmania in December 2021. The focus will be on the response plan and the lessons learnt.

This masterclass is aimed at those who assist emergency service personnel—including human resources staff, deputy chiefs, regional managers and mental health professionals, as well as frontline emergency personnel who have an interest in this topic. Participants aim to increase awareness and understanding of different approaches to well-being, while providing a model to enable organisations to respond to major incidents.

The masterclass will be held in Sydney on Wednesday 11 May 2022 at the Rydges Sydney. For those unable to attend in person, virtual participation is available. For more information and to register, visit www.afac.com.au/events.

NATURAL HAZARD RESPONSE AND STUDENT FUNDING AVAILABLE

Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) has launched a range of education programs designed to increase Australia’s resilience to the impacts of natural hazards, with many research funding opportunities still available to postgraduate and higher-degree students.

The Natural Hazards Associate Student Program is open, with eligible postgraduate researchers able to become associates of the Centre. This grants them initial funding with access to further support, professional development, placements with Centre partners and other important industry opportunities.

Quick response funding is also available, providing support to researchers to travel to areas recently affected by natural hazards to collect time-sensitive data and measure impacts, recovery, planning and community response.

The Centre particularly encourages applications from First Nations peoples, women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disability, LGBTIQ+ people, and those with family and caring responsibilities. The Centre, which was funded for ten years by the Australian

PHOTO: BUSHFIRE AND NATURAL HAZARDS CRC

Government in 2021, has already begun investing in the next generation of natural hazard researchers through new industry-focused and partnerdriven research projects, with many more projects to come. Learn more and apply at www. naturalhazards.com.au/educationprogram/associate-students.

Natural Hazards Research Australia has associate student and quick response funding available.

NEW CSIRO BUSHFIRE LAB ANNOUNCED

CSIRO has revealed its new $2.1 M research facility in Canberra, aimed at helping firefighters and other authorities better understand and predict bushfire behaviour by analysing what conditions make them worse and the best ways to respond.

The new laboratory will boost the power of CSIRO’s Pyrotron and Vertical Wind Tunnel (VWT), two unique instruments designed to allow the detailed investigation of the physics of bushfires.

The Pyrotron and VWT were purpose-built scientific apparatus that could replicate aspects of real-life bushfires under a controlled range of conditions without the risks, safety concerns and access issues that a live bushfire presents to firefighters.

The Pyrotron is a 29-metre-long

PHOTO: CSIRO

combustion wind tunnel designed to help investigate flame propagation in bushfire fuels such as grass, forest litter and shrubs, under a broad range of burning conditions. This includes conditions such as those of an extreme fire danger day. It allows researchers to vary or control factors such as wind speed, fuel type and structure, fuel load and fuel moisture content.

The VWT is designed to study

This new research facility will investigate the physics and behaviour of bushfires.

the combustion and aerodynamic characteristics of embers formed by burning bark and other materials, which often cause spotfires to break out and are the main cause of bushfires escaping containment.

Although the bushfire lab is a CSIRO-owned national facility, it is available for use by arrangement by any external organisations wanting to better understand fire behaviour and impact.

PROACTIVE INSPECTIONS SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFY RISKS

The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) is conducting targeted inspections of Victorian construction sites that have identified an increase in compliance risks.

Analysis of quarter two data from the VBA’s Proactive Inspection Program (PIP), collected from October to December 2021, showed that non-compliant building and plumbing issues had increased by 7% on the previous quarter.

This outcome was influenced by a shift in criteria targeting inspections of practitioners and sites of interest, allowing inspectors to assess more sites that have progressed beyond early stage work.

A compliance risk is any noncompliant item observed in a building under construction that has the potential to undermine safety, cause financial loss for future occupants or damage structural integrity.

More than 2,500 proactive inspections of building and plumbing work were undertaken in the final three months of last year.

The VBA’s State Building Surveyor, Andrew Cialini, said that the more targeted approach to PIP meant the regulator was able to identify risks more effectively.

Overall, from October to December 2021, the VBA conducted 2,584 inspections—1,550 building and 1,034 plumbing inspections—across the state.

Proactive site inspections were conducted in more than 56 municipalities, including the local government areas of Greater Geelong, Hume, Whittlesea and Wyndham.

Timber framing, wet areas and external waterproofing, and steel framing were the top non-compliant issues found by the VBA in domestic building work.

In commercial building work, damp

PHOTO: STORYBLOCKS

and weatherproofing, the biggest compliance issues were fire resistance and fire safety provisions.

Roof drainage, gas installation, sanitary plumbing systems and cold-water services were the key compliance risks highlighted in domestic and commercial plumbing.

Victorian Government auditors are looking closely at the performance of building trades.

NASH STANDARD UPDATED IN LINE WITH USER FEEDBACK

The National Association of Steel-framed Housing (NASH) Standard Steel framed construction in bushfire areas offers an alternative to AS 3959 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas for building steel-framed houses in areas subject to bushfire attack.

The NASH Bushfire Standard has been referenced in the National Construction Code as a deemed-to-satisfy solution since 2015, providing economical and robust design options based on non-combustible steel framing, wall and roof claddings.

Following valuable user feedback, the new standard has been extended to include the following major items: „ solutions for tiled roofs in BAL-12.5 to BAL-40 „ extended roof pitches to cover all roofs in BAL-FZ „ an extended solution to cover cathedral ceilings in BAL-FZ „ specific solutions for Class 10a buildings (garages/sheds) „ roof skylights/windows provisions „ clarified requirements for air conditioning and service ducting „ additional drawings and details.

The new standard can be purchased through the NASH online shop.