The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal has overturned a decision by WorkCover NSW to withdraw an OHS assessor’s licence, finding he was wrongly accused of fraud.
WorkCover NSW falsely accuses OHS assessor of fraud
In 2002 the assessor was granted accreditation to conduct testing for OHS certificates (forklifts and platform booms), and to conduct OHS induction training for construction work. In 2005 he contacted the National Safety Council of Australia Ltd (NSCA) to seek verification of his NSCA Class IV Certificate, in order to gain additional accreditation as a trainer.
The NSCA said it had no record of the assessor and could not verify his certificate. WorkCover then cancelled his accreditation and accused him of being accredited on the basis of false or misleading information.
The assessor applied to WorkCover for an internal review, which affirmed its decision. He subsequently applied to the Tribunal for a review of that decision.
No record of the certificate most likely due to human error
The assessor told Judicial Member Linda Pearson that he gained his initial certificate after contacting the NSCA.
He said he spoke with an OHS trainer, who told him he would have to draft a training and assessment program. He said a few months after he submitted the program for appraisal, he received his certificate in the mail.
The assessor’s employer at the time vouched for his character. The managing director described him as an honest and diligent worker, and said that although it had no record of payment for his certificate, the company had regularly paid for other courses he had attended and he believed a receipt or record of this certificate could have been lost.
WorkCover disputed the assessor’s version of events. (as they would of course)
The NSCA trainer told the Tribunal that she had never spoken with the assessor nor received a submission of his assignment.
She also disputed the integrity of the certificate held by the assessor, claiming that her signature on it was a forgery.
The NSCA added that there was no record on any of its databases of the certificate being issued to the worker, nor was there any record of payment for the course.
Judicial Member Pearson accepted the assessor’s version of events, and found that he was issued with an NSCA Certificate, and it was not obtained through false or improper means.
She said the fact that there was no record of the assessor or his certificate at the NSCA was most likely the result of “human error”, with the organisation having a high turnover of staff and regularly moving premises in the time between the assessor’s application for a certificate and its cancellation.
Judicial Member Pearson set aside the previous decision, and said any fresh application for accreditation (his previous licence has now expired) would need to be determined on the basis of the information available at the time.
Walden v Chief Executive Officer, WorkCover NSW [2007] NSWADT 94 (20 April 2007)
We believe that this OHS assessor may just have been “too nice”, eh?! 
they are so shonky…
Utterly disgusting, we’re talking about someone that wants to make work safer here! Workcover NSW even accuses the poor guy of forging the signature on the OHS certificate! Who on earth would want to be a fake OHS person for God’s sake? This case remind me of the SA guys who sold FAKE OHS certificates in pubs (http://aworkcovervictimsdiary.com/2012/02/corrupt-workcover-employees-may-put-workers-lives-at-risk/) and thereby put workers lives at risk! The whole system is just totally corrupt. That’s why – in my seriously injured opinion- you only get horrible rehab service providers or home help “assessors” because they are all biases and bribed to write what workcover wants! There is no such a thing anymore as an honest assessment these days. One home help assessor actually told me so at the end of the session: she told me “I am not supposed to tell you but Xchanging will not pay for more tthan blah blah and I know it is very unfair, but we are their sole contractor and if we don’t write that we loose our contract and go out of business”. This is NOT a joke!
They chose level who they want based on the bias. It’s a fact. So, all good people have no future within the workcover system (i.e. good case managers, nice OHS people, decent rehab services, honest home help assessors etc).
It is disgusting. point.
The term Megalomania comes to mind here,
Remember some of these famous Psychology experiments?
eg
Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies
and the
Stanford Prison Experiments
Have a look and see the similarities
Maybe workcover is working to a template of sorts?
Anyone from workcover care to comment?
Notsurprisedanymore
http://aworkcovervictimsdiary.com/2012/01/workcover-case-managers-and-the-stanford-prison-experiment/
we wrote an article about case managers and the stanford prison experiment (see link above!)
@workcovervictim3 thanks for the link
IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE how I came to similar conclusions
Again, confirmation to me a that an insidious premeditated pattern of behaviors is being perpetrated on us
HEY WORKCOVER THE CRACKS ARE SHOWING
Notsurprisedanymore
Hi and thanks for the link
Nice to see we are on the same page here!
Notsurprised