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wellspring/15-torts-and-coordination/15-04-workplace-health-and-safety.md
2021-04-07 15:02:39 +10:00

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Wellspring: Workplace Health and Safety:

Making employers publish the known risks for a given position, and keep those published risks up to date:

Employers shall publish, as part of the job description for any job, a list of the hazards which arise from carrying out the job within the particular work environment provided by that employer. The list is only required to cover the hazards which may arise as a result of the nature/configuration of the particular work environment, and the nature of the equipment/tools/supplies provided by the employer for the carrying out of the job. The list is not required to cover hazards which arise from misuse, by the employees, of the environment/equipment/tools/supplies in the nature/configuration provided by the employer.

When the nature/configuration of the environment/equipment/tools/supplies provided by the employer change, the employer may update the hazard list and republish it to each employee whose job has been affected by the updated environment/equipment/tools/supplies.

Employees may bring actions before the courts in the form of "Undisclosed Workplace Hazard" complaints based on this published list of hazards.

Cause of action: "Undisclosed workplace hazard":

When employees identify an alleged hazard which arises from carrying out their job as a result of the nature/configuration of the particular work environment/equipment/tools/supplies which has not been documented by the employer in the job description, any and all of the employees (whether or not their particular job description incurs the alleged hazard) shall have standing to file suit against the employer under the cause of action, "Undisclosed workplace hazard".

Upon judgment proceeding for the employees:

  • They shall have redress in the form of declaratory relief, that the alleged hazard is in fact a hazard.
  • They shall have redress in the form of an injunction against the employer to add the hazard to the list in the job description.
  • They shall have good claim to a cause of action known as the "Unameliorated Workplace Hazard" claim.

Making employers provide safe work environments:

Employers are expected to provide work places which demonstrate a good faith effort to ensure that any hazards which may reasonably arise from the nature/configuration of the particular environment/equipment/tools/supplies provided by the employer are ameliorated. Employers may demonstrate such good faith efforts by providing, for each of the hazards occasioned by the particular nature/configuration of the environment/equipment/tools/supplies, a method of using the environment/equipment/tools/supplies which:

  • When diligently followed/deployed by the employees ameliorates the hazard.
  • Is resourced by the employer sufficiently so as to make it practical for the employees to follow/deploy.
  • Can readily be demonstrated by the employer to be maintained in an operational state or on standby, ready to be deployed in a timely manner, depending on the type of hazard under consideration.

Cause of action: "Unameliorated Workplace Hazard":

Should any of the published hazards for a job description not have a good faith method provided by the employer which ameliorates the hazard, any and all of the employees (whether or not their particular job description incurs the alleged hazard) shall have standing to file suit against the employer under the cause of action, "Unameliorated Workplace Hazard".

Upon judgment proceeding for the employees:

  • Both sides of the advocacy shall present a set of options for methods to ameliorate the hazard.
  • Should both sides not be able to come to a mutually agreed upon settlement, a subsequent trial shall be held and a jury shall issue the verdict on which method shall be adopted as the good faith method (where good faith is not necessarily "state of the art").
  • The employer shall have a grace period within which to provide such protections as are determined to be in good faith by mutually agreed upon settlement or by jury.