Government could help progress OHS so much more

Innovation in occupational health and safety (OHS) is often encouraged by government but government processes and policy can also discourage and limit this.  An obvious example is where government insists on compliance with OHS laws in its tendering criteria but acknowledges that the tender safety criteria remains outdated and, privately, that OHS compliance is not enough to ensure a safe and healthy workplace.

An important OHS document in the Victorian bureaucracy and construction sector is a

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Psychology, Leadership and Jonathan Lincolne

Episode 47 of Andrew Barrett’s Safety On Tap podcast consisted of an interview with  Jonathan Lincolne of Pockets of Brilliance.  Several comments are of note.

Psychology

Around the 47 minute mark, Lincolne is asked about the level of psychological knowledge that the occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals should possess.  Lincolne refreshingly describes himself as a skeptic about a lot of the recent psychological discussion, particularly the promotion of neuroscience.

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WorkSafeNZ’s investigation into cut throats identifies important safety lessons

Following a recent article about Enforceable Undertakings, several readers have asked for more information about the occupational health and safety (OHS) breaches that cause WorkSafe New Zealand to commence prosecution actions.

The investigation report provides some useful discussion on safety management failures and Board of Trustee obligations.

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The challenges of Todd Conklin

Earlier this month SafetyAtWorkBlog published an article based on an anecdote by Todd Conklin about a glove.  There was much more that Conklin shared at the SafeGuard conference in New Zealand.  Below are several of his slides/aphorisms/questions that may challenge the way you think about managing occupational health and safety (OHS) in your workplace.

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safetyculture clarifies its approach to SWMS

On May 1 2017 safetyculture released an e-book called “Confused about Workplace Safety?” intended to address questions commonly asked of them.  The topic of most interest is their advocacy of Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS), an activity discussed earlier by SafetyAtWorkBlog.

safetyculture states up front that SWMS are for “high risk construction work” as defined by occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation and lists the activities that make up high risk construction work. But then poses a confusing question:

“So why did my principal contractor request that I supply a SWMS for the plastering or turf laying job I just did?”

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New program launched that forecasts safety and risk levels

Almost every occupational health and safety (OHS) inquiry by the Australian Government has acknowledged the inadequacies of data on workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths.  The 1995 Inquiry into Occupational Health and Safety (Volume 2) (pages 377-378) by the (then) Industry Commission  acknowledged the lack of empirical evidence and made up its own.  The situation has barely improved.

However a new project by West Australian academic,

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Free online safety conference – RTW Summit

Recently I recorded my contribution  to an online conference called the RTW Summit.  This conference is first to Australia although other organisations have proposed such a format previously but never eventuated.

The conference has been devised and organised by Mark Stipic, a young Return To Work professional who started a podcast recently.  He is intelligent and one of those people who is not afraid to take risks in the emerging world of social media.

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