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25 June 2009AUDITOR GENERAL FINDS WEAKNESSES IN SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING DANGEROUS GOODSSecond Public Sector Performance Report 2009 (Report 7 – June 2009):
Dangerous Goods Safety An Auditor General’s report tabled in Parliament today has found weaknesses in licensing and compliance arrangements for dangerous goods. Dangerous goods include explosives, flammable liquids and gases and oxidising agents. A new Dangerous Goods Act came into effect in March 2008, and provides for the safety of dangerous goods manufacture, storage, handling and transport. In the first item of his Public Sector Performance Report Auditor General Colin Murphy said that the Department of Mines and Petroleum had made progress in implementing the Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004, but a number of shortcomings still needed to be addressed. “In this examination, I have found instances where licences to handle dangerous goods were issued without the necessary background checks by WA Police,” Mr Murphy said. “In other instances, remediation notices are not issued when problems are identified during inspections at explosives sites, and overdue remediation notices are not always followed up.” The report also found that the Department lacks an information system to manage compliance and inspection activities, although it plans to introduce such a system by 2012. “Significant weaknesses in some systems and practice are evident, and the Department needs to address these to effectively manage dangerous goods safety in the state,” Mr Murphy said. Compliance in Western Australia’s Commercial and Recreational Fisheries In the second item of the Public Sector Performance Report, the Auditor General examined the effectiveness of the Department of Fisheries’ commercial and recreational fishing compliance model. The report found that the Department commits considerable resources to its compliance and enforcement eff ort, including well-trained, professional fisheries and marine officers. However, the Department was unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of this program. Mr Murphy noted that enforcement activity covers less, on average, than five percent of the total fishing activity in the state, but the Department has yet to determine the most effective level of compliance effort. “State-wide risks are not ranked or prioritised to determine where compliance activities should be directed, and not all fisheries have had risk assessments,” Mr Murphy said. “Compliance activities in some fisheries are reactive only, undertaken in response to reports from the public. For these reasons, some ‘at-risk’ fisheries may receive inadequate enforcement activity.” He also noted that the Department’s recent State of the Fisheries report shows that while the majority of WA’s significant fisheries are healthy, stocks in 20 per cent of fisheries are below acceptable levels, or have not been assessed. The fisheries of greatest concern include dhufish and snapper populations, which are declining, and the rock lobster catch, which is predicted to drop in future years. Mr Murphy said that the Department of Fisheries should conduct regional and state-wide compliance risk assessments to provide a basis for targeting its compliance program. He also found that the Department’s information systems do not support effective monitoring or reporting of compliance activities and results. “The Department has identified the deficiencies in its different data systems and is taking steps to improve data linkage, collection and reporting,” Mr Murphy said.
The Second Public Sector Performance Report 2009 can be downloaded from: http://www.audit.wa.gov.au/index.html
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