Why Comply?

Compliance refers to an organisation’s legal obligations to adhere to prescribed statutes and standards. The obligations emanate from a range of sources including state and commonwealth legislation, and from industry body codes of practice.  These requirements specify not only the need to provide appropriate training and work instructions to staff and contractors, but that this is done in a consistent and timely manner, with validation and audit trail.
Compliance is a mandatory requirement for all organisations operating in Australia.  Read more in the following sections.

Compliance is the Law

The law now demands that you act to provide an effective, robust methodology for compliance and governance management. Without this, you are at serious risk.

The legal requirements for compliance management can flow from a range of different sources:

  • Commonwealth legislation
  • State legislation
  • Local requirements and by-laws
  • Industry standards
  • International law

At the very pointy end, your organisation must have effective methods for properly addressing major statutory requirements.  These include health and safety, equal employment opportunity, harassment, privacy and trade practices. 

You must also address relevant specific legislation applicable to your industry sector, whether in financial services, local government, aged care, manufacturing, property, personnel services, or others. 

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The Risks

The absence of a robust system for compliance management can have grave consequences, including loss of operating licenses, personal liability and even imprisonment.

Potential Risks

Risks occur when staff and contractors operating across the organisation are unaware of the prevailing operating requirements and their individual obligations.  In the absence of such understanding, the law may be broken and greater damage may result.  This includes:

  • The occurrence of workplace accidents and incidents
  • The illegal disclosure of private information.
  • Workplace bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment
  • Malpractice and misconduct
  • Collusive behaviour
  • False or misleading advertising
  • Improper security and emergency management
  • Violation of operating license requirements
  • Breaches of policies and procedures
  • Financial mismanagement & breach of fiduciary duty
  • Conflicts of interest

Potential Consequences

  • The consequences of poor compliance management are equally serious.  These include
  • Injury and death in the workplace
  • Loss of operating licenses or enforceable undertakings
  • Loss of income
  • Fines
  • Other imposed corrective actions
  • Disqualification of office holders
  • Civil and criminal penalties
  • Vexatious claims
  • Vicarious liability
  • Brand damage

Increasing Litigation

Litigation will increase. Law firms such as Slater and Gordon, who recently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, are coming to the aid of employees who believe they have cases which can be prosecuted against employers as a result of damage sustained in the workplace.  Law firms such as Slater and Gordon provide plaintiffs with ‘No Win- No Fee ™’ avenues of legal recourse which can fuel a rapid growth in action against employers.

Recent Corporate Examples

A snapshot of possible consequences is reflected in the following news headlines:

  • “ACT becomes first jurisdiction where an employer can be convicted of industrial manslaughter if proven criminally negligent or reckless in the death of a worker”.
  • “Workplace bullies cost Victorian State Government $1,000,000 during last year”.
  • “NSW Police Service fined damages for sex discrimination and harassment”.
  • “The IR Commission of NSW has fined the Salvation Army for breach of OHS obligations”.
  • “Victorian cinema operator to stand trial over $1,170,000 fraud”.
  • ASIC prosecutes 20 directors in Sydney”

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Managing Compliance

As an organisation, you must have a mature set of operating processes, procedures and training that addresses how you will operate under all circumstances.  These must be current and must be understood by all relevant staff and contractors.

An effective compliance management methodology must not only deliver the right information and training, it must be delivered at the right time, in a consistent and controlled manner. The information delivered must be accurate and up to date. And, there must be validation that the information has been received and understood, with a complete audit trail.

Manual methods are inadequate. They typically fall short on a number of critical points:

  • They do not enable essential information and training to be delivered to all staff and contractors exactly when and where required.
  • They result in great delays in the time taken to update existing staff and to reach new staff.  These delays set up critical exposures for your organisation where staff are operating without the requisite knowledge and training.
  • They often result in inconsistent delivery of information and/or information that is out of date.
  • They typically do not produce the necessary validation and audit trail.

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Essential Outcomes

A comprehensive compliance management solution requires a robust, organisation-wide structure of control. It must cover operating practices, training, reporting and auditing. It must ensure:

  • All members of the organisation have the right information and training in relation to general requirements under the law
  • All members of the organisation have the right knowledge of organisation policies, procedures, products and services
  • Control is extended across the entire organisation chain- including suppliers and contractors
  • Information and training is delivered without delay
  • Information and training is accurate and current
  • Information and training delivered to staff is understood and acknowledged
  • Information and training delivered to organisation staff and contractors is addressed within set time limits
  • Relevant information and training is delivered at an appropriate level of frequency, and not just once-off
  • There is full control and quality assurance, including 100% visibility at management level
  • There is full reporting capability
  • There is a full audit trail

Learning Seat Compliance has been designed to address these requirements from the ground up to put you in control.

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Publications

Privacy

EEO/Harassment

Occupational Health and Safety

Trade Practices

 

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Compliance Training