19. The Rev Rick Miller asked -

Regarding the Government’s Occupational Health and Safety legislation –

(a) By what date must parishes comply with this legislation?

(b) How many parishes complied with the legislation by that date?

(c) What are the penalties for not complying with the legislation?

(d) Has the Diocese sent information about its relevance and its details to parishes, and if so when?

(e) Will parishes be receiving further information from the Diocese about its application to them in the near future, and if so when?

To which the President replied –

I am informed that the answers are as follows –

(a) Occupational Health and Safety legislation has been in place for many years and as such parishes have been required to comply with the legislation to the extent it applies. I take it however that the "date" referred to in Mr Miller’s question is a reference to 1 September 2003, being the date on which certain recently introduced obligations under the legislation started to apply to employers with 20 or fewer employees.

(b) Parishes have not been asked to provide information regarding their compliance with the legislation and, as such, the information sought by the question is not available.

(c) There are a range of monetary and other penalties for not complying with the legislation. Serious offences under the legislation attract substantial penalties

(d) Yes. Information regarding the obligations under the legislation was sent to all parishes in 2002 as part of the Employment Relations Guidelines issued by the Secretariat. .

(e) A significant amount of work has been undertaken in preparing further information for parishes. The Secretariat hopes to be in a position to issue such information shortly.