Biz Momentum Blog

Did you know your employees do not have a statutory right to a smoke break in the workplace?

Have you ever added up the cost of the loss of productivity of smoking in your workplace?  You may be very surprised. What seems to be a 10 minute break often rolls into 20 minutes.

Consider doing the following:

• Have a policy that clearly states that smoking is confined to rest breaks and not your time.
• Set out why the policy is in force, (e.g. Health & Safety).
• Specify where employees are allowed to smoke and where they are not. (Different states have different requirements).
• Identify who is responsible for enforcing the policy.
• Outline what the consequences of not complying with the policy are.

For further assistance please contact Biz Momentum. We have clients in all states and territories of Australia and advise some international clients. (T) 61 7 3349 5662 (m) +61 409 002 365

Biz Momentum has been assisting the transport industry for some time and has developed a policies and procedures manual specifically for the transport industry that comprises human resource and health and safety policies and procedures.

This manual can be tailored to your business and comes with accident / incidents reports, checklists, employment agreements, forms and letters.

We have assisted employers with termination of employment issues, diminished performance and remuneration matters. We have enabled transport businesses to minimise their employment risks as well as placing strategies in place to ensure employee compliance while providing hands on mentoring and assistance.

Contact us for further assistance and to see how we can assist you minimise your risks.

We have clients Australia wide.

An employee was recently awarded $466,000 plus 90% legal costs for sexual harassment by her employer.

Incidence of sexual harassment is increasing in today’s marketplace and legislation requires that you have policies and procedures to manage these complaints, to manage grievances in a timely and unbiased manner or you will pay the penalty.

Biz Momentum conduct Sexual Harassment investigations and can assist you minimise your risks.

You are urged to take action to protect your business interests.

In a decision that should end shock waves through the small business community Australia’s industrial umpire has ruled that a long-term employee who was legitimately sacked for repeated safety breaches must be reinstated and paid compensation because of his poor education and poor job prospects.
In the latest ruling to concern business, Fair Work Australia found the worker had engaged in “relatively serious misconduct”, but ruled the sacking harsh due to his length of service and the fact he was a poorly educated middle-aged family man.

Ensure you make informed decisions and speak with us www.biz-momentum.com  Working Australia wide. (T) 61 7 3349 5662
 

WorkSafe Victoria is conducting a blitz of up to 40,000 workplaces to ensure they comply with anti bullying legislation.

This came about after a young restaurant worker committed suicide after repeated bullying over a period of a year. The business was fined $335,000.

Now may be a good time to ensure you have the correct policies, procedures, training and complaint management processes in place.

To see how we can assist your business contact Biz Momentum for assistance today www.biz-momentum.com

We are specialists in managing workplace bullying and grievances.

If you have employees working from home you are responsible for their health and safety.

You must provide training, instruction, direction, supervision to ensure their home workplace is safe. You are also responsible for any reasonable changes made to their working environment to eliminate or reduce workplace risk.

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Work Health & Safety has been traditionally managed by individual states in Australia. However in recent times states have been convening and discussing a work health and safety bill to cover all jurisdictions.

The Bill was rubber stamped recently and is scheduled to start on 1 January 2012.

The upshot is that whether you work in Qld, NSW or WA you will be uniformly covered by the same legislation in those states.

We have attached a copy for your information. Provided by Philip Lye of Biz Momentum www.biz-momentum.com

Model Work Health & Safety Bill