SafeWorkSA has announced that its OHS awards program for 2011 has received a record 80 nominations. This is a useful counterpoint to the initiatives that WorkSafe Victoria has instigated to stem declining interests in its awards program.
SafeWorkSA has provided a breakdown of the award categories:
- Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System – 16
- Best Solution to an Identified Workplace Health and Safety Issue – 37
- Best Workplace Health and Safety Practice/s in a Small Business – 7
- Best Individual Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety – 20
The most popular category relates to safety solutions which may indicate the persistence of the traditional engineering approach to occupational safety and health. However it may also indicate a perception that achieving the position of finalist in a safety award conducted by a state OHS regulator infers some legitimacy on a product from which an effective marketing campaign can be constructed, a legitimacy that would be contested by the OHS regulators.
It is not insignificant that many inventions presented on the ABC TV program The New Inventors are also associated with OHS awards around Australia. This week’s program is almost typical with two of the three inventions presented addressing OHS issues. Marketing is a vital component of any commercially successful safety solution.
Workplace safety & health is a category of management responsibility in places of employment. It takes a team effort by both management and employees to assure that total quality safety management in the workplace becomes a core value of your organization. The government is already reducing the number of injuries that need to be reported, so that an episode involving someone being absent from work for up to a week need not be reported.