Overdue Budget for occupational illnesses welcome

Media statement
Wednesday, May 12th, 2005

Overdue Budget to study occupational illnesses welcome

‘Better late than never’ said Paul Jarvie, Health & Safety Services Manager for the Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern) in response to the announcement today of new funding for workplace health.

$730,000 is being made available to OSH to train staff in workplace health related issues plus $120,000 for new monitoring equipment.

Mr Jarvie said the funding was a start, overdue by nearly a decade, but nonetheless very welcome.

“For years virtually all our workplace safety effort went into improving our workplace accident record with very little attention given to occupational illnesses.

“The funding announced today by Minister Ruth Dyson moves to address that deficit.

“Its very welcome and timely given the recommendations of the National Occupational Health & Safety Committee (NOHSAC) report released late last year.

“Further funding should be considered to assist employers understand the range and scope of occupational health issues.

“Businesses and other organizations will need to start considering how to introduce these new OSH initiatives into their workplaces.”

ENDS

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