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• Occupational health and safety reforms deliver economic benefits without compromising OH&S

  Recognising the importance of the occupational health and safety (OHS) legislative framework to the NSW economy, WorkCover commissioned ACIL Tasman to assess the economic impact of:

  * reforms to OHS legislation which came into effect in 2001
  * more recent changes in 2006 to electrical testing and tagging requirements in the OHS Regulation 2001.

  The study found that the 2001 reforms and the changes to electrical testing and tagging requirements have had a significant benefit to the NSW economy. The 2001 reforms resulted in Gross State Product increasing by over $619 million in 2005, while the electrical testing and tagging changes have reduced the regulatory burden for businesses by $144 million per annum.

  These economic benefits have not been at the expense of safety. On the contrary, since the 2001 reforms, there are on average over 19,000 fewer workplace incidents resulting in either injury or death.

  More detail is available in the report, which can be found here.