Businesses

Does your business meet its legal obligations to provide a safe workplace?

Most workplaces contain multiple sources of electromagnetic fields and many businesses require staff to use wireless devices both inside and outside the office.

Businesses have a legal responsibility to provide a safe work environment for staff.

A duty holder, in managing risks to health and safety, must identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to risks to health and safety. …

A duty holder, in managing risks to health and safety, must: (a) eliminate risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable; and (b) if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to health and safety—minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

Parliamentary Counsel’s Committee, ‘Model Work Health and Safety Regulations as at 15 January 2019’, Safe Work Australia

Do you know what levels of electromagnetic radiation are present in your workplace?
How do you know it’s safe?

Facts

Many workers use wireless devices in ways that do not comply with user guidelines and that could expose them to more radiation than permitted by the Australian standard.
Compliance with the Australian standard does not guarantee your business meets its legal obligations to provide a safe working environment. You can see more details about the standard
Corporations and individuals may be liable for failure to take steps to implement a safe work environment.
Australian courts awarded compensation to an employee exposed at work. (McDonald and Comcare [2013] AATA 105 (28 February 2013)
Legislation requires a precautionary approach to potential risks.

‘Businesses are not ready; they’re not prepared and they’re in for huge litigation.’

Raymond Broomhall, barrister

Interview with Raymond Broomhall, barrister

Hear what barrister Raymond Broomhall has to say in this interview with Lyn McLean, Director of EMR Australia.

Ray talks about their obligations to protect workers from risks and about legislation they need to consider. He explains why complying with the Australian standard is not enough to protect them from litigation and why litigation is about to boom.

Here's just some of what Ray covers in the interview (with timecode):

What legal liability do businesses have to provide a safe workplace? (0:51)

Could a business be at risk from exposing workers to wireless radiation? (2:00)

The ‘ground-breaking’ legal precedent where a worker sued an employer – and won. (12:38)

Does complying with the Australian standard protect businesses from legal risk? (16:00)

Businesses could face action under the Criminal Code. (22:00)

Business owners, managers, directors, workplace safety staff, IT directors could potentially be liable (23:20)

5G risks (27:45)

You can watch/listen to the interview here.

...a total of 32 countries of governmental bodies within these countries have issued policies and health recommendations concerning exposure to RFR. Three US states have issued advisories to limit exposure to RFR

Miller AB et al, (2019) Risks to Health and Well-Being From Radio-Frequency Radiation Emitted by Cell Phones and Other Wireless Devices. Front. Public Health 7:223. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00223,

Protect your employees and customers

EMR Australia can help you protect your employees and customers and minimise your legal risks. We can:

Provide a professional testing service
Work with you to develop an appropriate policy for technology and equipment use in your business that embodies the precautionary approach
Provide staff training by an experienced educator
Provide you with meters for monitoring fields in your workplace
Provide shielded mobile phone cases for staff.
Implement wired computer networks to minimise exposure

If you believe that the effects of WiFi, mobile phones, or mobile phone tower base stations have caused injury to yourself, your child/children or a friend, you are not alone. The increasingly widespread use of WiFi across business and government (especially in schools) is a move that goes against the rapidly mounting body of credible scientific evidence which makes increasingly clear that exposure to even low levels of electromagnetic radiation (also known as EMR), which includes WiFi, on an ongoing basis has a wide range of serious adverse health effects.

Premier Compensation Lawyers