The need for occupational health and safety (OHS) to adapt to the changing (deteriorating) global climate has long been discussed. This discussion may spike later this month with this year’s World Day of Health and Safety theme, the somewhat fatalistic “Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate“. Rather than look closely at …
[This article discusses suicide.] The tide seems to be turning in approaches to the prevention of suicides in Australia. Recently the CEO of Suicide Prevention Australia, Nieves Murray, concluded a radio interview with some advice that relates directly to workplace suicides....
The recent report on sexual harassment at West Australian mine sites deserves national attention for several reasons. The stories are horrific, partly because many of us thought such stories were in the distant past. The fact that many are recent should shock everyone into action. The report “Enough is Enough”is highly important, but its newsworthiness …
Every profession has safety practices that have existed for years and are integral to that profession’s character and operations. These have usually occurred because of correlation more than a cause, and occupational health and safety (OHS), in particular, advocates evidence-based decisions. One longstanding example could be the mandatory wearing of lace-up ankle-high safety boots for …
[Article reprinted, with permission, from the May 24 edition of Crikey newsletter] Luke Slawomirski During the 2020 lockdowns, the business lobby showed a surprising concern for Victorians’ mental health: lockdowns were bad because they’d cause a spike in mental illness and suicides far worse than the COVID-19 cases and deaths they’d prevent. The suicide spike never … Continue reading “Business should stop complaining about paying for mental health. It’ll boost the bottom line.”
New South Wales’ Opposition Minister for Industrial Relations, Adam Searle, spoke recently in support of the introduction of Industrial Manslaughter (IM) laws. In Parliament on May 5 2021, he said “… legislation is required to enable the prosecution of industrial manslaughter and to fundamentally change the approach across industry in order to raise the standard …
In March 2021, WorkSafe Victoria released new statistics about workplace fatalities, but you would not know it unless you subscribed to WorkSafe’s news. Internet searches for Minister Ingrid Stitt and workplace safety for March only turns up WorkSafe actions on sexual harassment, but the March 16, 2021 media statement should have broader ramifications....
