Australia has embraced a bizarre safety concept of “pro-activity” that is confusing our understanding of intention in the next phase of OHS laws, active safety management. It is essential to have an active safety management system, a safety management system that is not passive. Having a positive duty for safety, as required by the upcoming new Australian OHS laws, [...]
All posts for the month October, 2011
Pro-active safety means nothing
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 30, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/30/pro-active-safety-means-nothing/
An example of how safety can be misperceived as expensive
Today I received an email that had the intriguing heading of: “Do you fully understand what the harmonisation laws mean to your organisation?” As I don’t “fully understand” harmonisation and spammers don’t usually use OHS as a spam tool, I opened the email. It was a promotion for an upcoming conference called Supply Chain and Logistics Safety 2012. [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 27, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/27/an-example-of-how-safety-can-be-misperceived-as-expensive/
Weekly Times sets the tone for quad bike safety research
The Weekly Times newspaper continues to report on the changing attitudes to quad bike safety in Australia. In its 19 October 2011 edition it featured an article that for the first time in the Australian print media questions the US research statistics on quad bike safety on which motorcycle manufacturers have been relying for many [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 25, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/25/weekly-times-sets-the-tone-for-quad-bike-safety-research/
Media releases are all positive for Safe Work Australia Week
Further to yesterday’s blog post that mentioned Australia’s Minister for Workplace Relations, Chris Evans, it is worth noting his new media release (not yet available online) in support of the 2011 Safe Work Australia Week. On 23 October 2011, Minister Evans said all the “right” things: “National Safe Work Australia Week, an annual initiative of [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 24, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/24/media-releases-are-all-positive-for-safe-work-australia-week/
Victorian WorkSafe Awards raise eyebrows and questions
Last week, WorkSafe Victoria held its 2011 Work Safe Awards night. The host was Shane Jacobson, probably most well-known for his film Kenny. SafetyAtWorkBlog has been informed that WorkSafe’s Executive Director, Ian Forsythe, was approached by an attendee on the evening complaining about the inappropriateness of some of Jacobs0n’s jokes and comments. WorkSafe Victoria has [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 24, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/24/victorian-worksafe-awards-raise-eyebrows-and-questions/
Victoria risks $50 million over OHS reforms
A SafetyAtWorkBlog article from last week said that Victoria’s Work Safe Week started flat and that speakers at some events were unsure of the future of OHS laws due to Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips‘ unprecedented call to the Federal Government for a 12-month delay. A spokesperson for the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations, Chris Evans, has told SafetyAtWorkBlog that Victoria is risking [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 23, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/23/victoria-risks-50-million-over-ohs-reforms/
Victoria is relinquishing its position of OHS leader in Australia
WorkSafe Victoria “launched” its Work Safe Week on 17 October 2011 with a lacklustre seminar about the future of OHS in Victoria but the quiet tone reflected the peculiar approach to OHS law reform taken by the government. Disappointingly the Victorian Minister responsible for WorkSafe, Gordon Rich-Phillips, failed to use Work Safe Week as an opportunity [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 18, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/18/victoria-is-relinquishing-its-position-of-ohs-leader-in-australia/
Look for evidence in online OHS content
In occupational health and safety, as with any profession, it is useful to ask for evidence. When on a work site, it is important to always ask “why?” Why do you do your work task that way? Why are you not wearing the PPE that everyone else is wearing? Why are you working such late [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 14, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/14/look-for-evidence-in-online-ohs-content/
Examining core values may benefit safety
Contemporary safety training is increasing discussing the core values of employees and managers. This focus can be very confronting for many people as core values are rarely discussed or even acknowledged, yet they could be central to the modern approach to safety management and safety compliance. New safety legislation in Australia applies a common obligation [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 14, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/14/examining-core-values-may-benefit-safety/
OHS reviews need to leap forward to relevance
Several times recently people have suggested that common sense is an adequate control measure for some workplace hazards. The United Kingdom’s politicians have been talking about common sense and OHS for several months but perhaps we can apply the broad concept of commonality, implicit in the UK’s advocacy of “common sense”, to OHS information so that people and businesses [...]
Posted by Kevin Jones on October 10, 2011
http://safetyatworkblog.com/2011/10/10/ohs-reviews-need-to-leap-forward-to-relevance/
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