In May 2008, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the following about public service workloads:

“I understand that there has been some criticism around the edges that some public servants are finding the hours a bit much ..... Well, I suppose I’ve simply got news for the public service — there’ll be more.  This Government was elected with a clear-cut mandate.  We intend to proceed with that.  The work ethic of this Government will not decrease.  It will increase.”

Just over 12 months later the Prime Minister saw just what such a “work ethic” could lead to.

(Gabrielle Lis has written elsewhere in RTWMatters about the Prime Minister’s aggressive manner. )

In mid-2009, the “OzCar Affair” broke with a very senior Treasury official, Godwin Grech, admitting he had faked an email which led to weeks of media and political discussion and speculation.

Workplace health and safety has been identified as an important element in Godwin Grech’s conduct and this raises serious questions about public service workload, corporate OHS responsibility and the obligation for individuals to look after their own health and safety

Since the OzCar scandal broke in a Senate inquiry, Godwin Grech kept a fairly low profile and was last reported to be receiving treatment in a Canberra psychiatric facility.  It has been reported that Grech has a history of physical health problems and it has been reported, in an investigation into the affair by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), that administering the scheme was taxing on Grech.  The report says

"The under‐resourcing of the implementation phase of the policy placed at risk the anticipated policy outcomes. It also placed a considerable workload on Mr Godwin Grech, the Treasury official primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the policy measure, particularly in light of his medical condition."

It needs to be noted that additional resources were offered to Grech to assist in administering the scheme. But Treasury was also criticised in the report.

"There were no indications that these matters, or Mr Grech’s medical condition, were given due weight in the implementation planning and delivery."

Grech admitted to the ANAO that he had not informed his employer, the Department of Treasury, of his ongoing struggle with depression.

"What senior Treasury management did not know – as I have only very recently discovered – was that I have also been suffering from chronic clinical depression for some years, dating back to at least 2003. This had not been treated."

Page 100 of the ANAO report has Grech quoting the OHS Act's employer obligation to "take all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety at work of [its] employees’", and then lists his working hours required by the scheme.

"My work on the Oz Car program required me to work between 75‐85 hours per week including on weekends from late October 2008 until the onset of my bowel obstruction in early February 2009. My hours varied from 60‐70 hours per week from late February to June 2009."

The amount of hours expected is phenomenal and there is little surprise that health problems or poor judgement occurred on this hazard alone.

However, what Grech fails to quote in the information to the ANAO is another section of the OHS Act 1991 - Section 21

"Duties of employees in relation to occupational health and safety

(1) An employee must, at all times while at work, take all reasonably practicable steps:

(a) to ensure that the employee does not take any action, or make any omission, that creates a risk, or increases an existing risk, to the health or safety of the employee, or of other persons (whether employees or not) at or near the place at which the employee is at work; ......"

Employees have a legislative obligation to not put themselves at risk. It would be interesting to know why Grech took on more than was healthy for him.

This dichotomy of choice is a crucial but difficult one for all employees in all industries.  When is it the right time to say no more or to ask for help or to say something is unsafe or unhealthy?

A further complexity to employment relations comes when industrial relations legislation specifies a maximum amount of working hours.  The Australian Government's very recent Fair Work Act 2009 specifies maximum weekly hours of 38.  So what does this say about the employer's OHS obligations to  civil servants, such as Godwin Grech?

The Fair Work Act says (Division 3, Section 62 (1))

"An employer must not request or require an employee to work more than the following number of hours in a week unless the additional hours are reasonable:

(a) for a full time employee—38 hours; or

(b) for an employee who is not a full time employee—the lesser of:

(i) 38 hours; and

(ii) the employee’s ordinary hours of work in a week.

Employee may refuse to work unreasonable additional hours."

There are larger issues in this saga such as political ethics, influence and ambition but in terms of work ethic, Godwin Grech could be considered one example of the Rudd Government’s expectations for the civil service.

In this whole political scandal OHS is an oblique and fringe issue but its existence cannot be ignored and it raises legitimate questions about how a Labor Government, the traditional friend of the worker, manages the safety of its employees.

Kevin Jones
This is a slightly edited version of an article that has appeared at SafetyAtWorkBlog and in BusinessSpectator.