Workers' Compensation and Injury Management Act - prescribed noisy workplaces
411. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Commerce:
I refer to the schedule 2 lump sum payments for which workers who have suffered at least 10 per cent hearing loss while working in prescribed noisy workplaces are eligible under the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981.
(1) How does WorkCover ensure that dangerously noisy workplaces are defined as “prescribed noisy workplaces”?
(2) What action can WorkCover take when an employer refuses to acknowledge that its workplace is a prescribed noisy workplace?
(3) What measures are in place to ensure that all workers in prescribed noisy workplaces are identified and tested within the first 12 months of employment?
(4) What measures are in place to compensate workers who are unable to claim a schedule 2 lump sum payment due to their employer’s failure to meet regulatory requirements?
(5) How many employers have been prosecuted for breaching this section of the act in the past decade?
Hon NORMAN MOORE replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question.
(1) The Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Regulations 1982 establish the minimum noise level that determines if a workplace should be prescribed. A prescribed workplace is a workplace where a worker receives a representative daily noise dose in an eight-hour day of 90dB(A) or its equivalent, or a peak noise exposure of 140dB(lin) at any time.
(2) It is an offence under the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 for employers of workers in a prescribed workplace to refuse to arrange and pay for audiometric tests.
(3) There is legislative obligation on the employers of workers employed in a prescribed workplace to arrange and pay for audiometric tests.
(4) Where there is a dispute between the worker and the employer, the matter may be referred to WorkCover’s WA dispute resolution directorate for a determination.
(5) None.