Families of four people who died while at work feel South Australia's workplace safety watchdog "disrespected" them, and failed to hold those responsible "to account for the death of their loved ones", according to a searing review of the organisation.
The independent review, launched after SafeWork SA decided not to prosecute the employer of murdered outback nurse Gayle Woodford, has urged extensive changes to the watchdog's oversight mechanisms, and internal standards and culture.
It was conducted by former chair WorkSafe Victoria John Merritt, who has made 39 recommendations — chief among them, the creation of an advisory council focused on SafeWork SA's performance.
Mr Merritt said SafeWork SA needed to "raise its ambition for safer workplaces, and hold itself to account in achieving this".
He also encouraged reforms to the Work Health and Safety Act to empower workers, their families or unions to launch their own civil proceedings against negligent employers.
Publicly released on Wednesday, the report was handed down six weeks ago to the SA government, which has fully or partially accepted 25 of the recommendations, but rejected four — including one relating to Ms Woodford — and deferred decisions on the remainder.
The review was compiled following consultation with the families of four people:
- Ms Woodford's husband Keith
- Pam Gurner-Hall, whose partner Jorge Castillo-Riffo died while working in a scissor lift at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) site in 2014
- Andrea Madeley, whose son Daniel died in 2004, and who leads support group Voice of Industrial Death
- Carmel Schwartz and Tom Howard, whose brother Peter Howard died in a car fire outside his workplace in 2018
Mr Merritt noted that each of the families felt SafeWork SA had made "significant errors in its investigations", had "disrespected them" by withholding information, and "failed to ensure that other workers did not suffer the same fate".
"There is substance to each of these claims," he wrote.
The report found the organisation was losing too many staff, but acknowledged that senior leaders had "worked hard to address issues of poor performance and poor accountability" in recent years.
"Anecdotally, some staff who were subject to performance management have left or are leaving SafeWork SA," Mr Merritt noted.
"A surprising number of staff told me that they do not feel it is safe for them to speak up on issues that should be communicated to the leadership."
Government rejects Woodford recommendation
SafeWork SA has previously faced scrutiny, including from ICAC, over stalled or failed prosecutions.
Among Mr Merritt's suggested reforms was the creation of a SafeWork SA Oversight and Advisory Council (SWOAC), which would include the Victims of Crime Commissioner to ensure SafeWork SA is "held to account and supported in respecting the rights and needs of families of deceased workers".
In a separate recommendation, Mr Merritt suggested the SWOAC be informed of the legal reasons why SafeWork SA decided not to prosecute Ms Woodford's employer, the Nganampa Health Council.
"The SWOAC should be provided with a briefing by counsel on the advice relied on by SafeWork SA in its decision not to bring a prosecution following the tragic death of Gayle Woodford," the review states.
But that has been rejected by the SA government on the grounds that advice "regarding a potential prosecution is subject to legal professional privilege".
"It would be contrary to longstanding policy to publicly disclose legal advice of this kind," the government said in a preliminary response document.
However, Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the government had committed to creating a "tripartite working group to oversee what SafeWork does".
"It was an election commitment to conduct a root and branch review of SafeWork SA … and the report finds that there have been significant improvements in what SafeWork does over recent years but there is still room to do things better," Mr Maher said.
"We intend to set up this group, and for that group to oversee other recommendations in terms of streamlining reporting, streamlining investigations and making sure SafeWork … helps keep workers safe.
"When there is an incident at work that leads to injury and sometimes the death of a worker, we want to make sure SafeWork is doing all they can to make sure the victims are informed along the way and are part of the process of the investigation and potential prosecution."
The SA government said it had also accepted a recommendation that SafeWork SA "engage an independent consultant to conduct a survey of its culture".
