Occupational Health and Safety and your community organisation

OHS and your community organisation

Occupational health and safety is a topic of perennial interest to not-for-profit organisations, and one that can cause some confusion.  What are your obligations towards your employees?  Do you owe the same obligations to volunteers, or does the law apply differently?  What if something does go wrong and someone is injured - what is your organisation’s potential liability? Can you be personally responsible if safety incidents occur, as an officer, as an employee or as a volunteer?

This practical and informative seminar will focus on OHS law as it applies to not-for-profit organisations, as well as touching on the fate of the proposed national model legislation.  Come along and have your OHS questions answered.

About the speaker

Barry Sherriff is an occupational health and safety lawyer based in Melbourne.

Barry provides integrated advice and pro-active strategies for compliance and risk management in OHS and associated areas of Workcover issues, employment and discrimination. He has represented clients across industries including government, finance, transport, manufacturing, mining and government. His specific experience has included the development and review of risk management and OHS strategies, corporate governance structures and procedures, including integration with other business and operational procedures.

Barry was a member of a three-person panel that made recommendations through the Australian Deputy Prime Minister to federal, state and territory governments on the structure and content of a model OHS Act to be adopted in all jurisdictions. The recommendations of the panel form the basis of the model Work Health and Safety Act.

In addition, he advised and represented the Victorian Congress of Employer Associations in the review of, and consultation on, the Victorian Occupational Health & Safety Act 2004.

Barry is an acknowledged thought leader in OHS, regularly speaking at conferences and contributing to OHS specific and general publications. He is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Personal Injury Law Specialist and holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Masters of Laws.

Among his various publications, Barry authored "OHS in Practice - A Guide to Legislation in Victoria", published in May 2005 and was a major contributor to the CCH, "Master OHS and Environment Guide" (first and second editions). He contributes regularly to numerous OHS publications.

Barry is an Honorary Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia and is the OHS Coordinator of the Property Council of Australia. He is a member of the National Employers' OHS Consultative Forum and the WorkSafe Victoria Stakeholder Reference Group.

Barry is named in the list of Leading Employment Lawyers in Victoria and the list of Recommended Employment Lawyers in Australia.

Barry was named in the Labour and Employment category of the Best Lawyers Australia list in 2008 and 2009.