Some people have accused me of writing for the converted through the SafetyAtWorkBlog and the majority of followers to this blog are OHS professionals and safety regulators, but everything on the Internet is able to be found by anyone who wants to, so the broad audience exists. Sometimes, however, you need to push yourself in the media.
In February 2016, Andrew Barrett of Fidesa, was interviewed live on community radio in South Australia. He was pushing himself in to the media and, hopefully, to a new audience. As well as imparting some solid occupational health and safety information, the show, “For Buck’s Sake” – a business program on BBBFM 89.1, seems to show that even people conducting a business program are not as informed on OHS as one would expect.
OHS is described by the hosts as red tape and having “brown pants” moments; it is also “eating into profits”, and involving paper cuts, fire extinguishers and “little crazy things”. Barrett tries courageously to get beyond such examples and explain the core business significance of OHS.
For those interested in both OHS and how OHS is communicated or understood by the general public, the podcast is educational.
Well I guess any publicity is getting the message out there and to a degree only I concur especially round general business where in my experience, safety is not so much of an issue as far as managment are concerned, basically becuase they have got away with running organisations without any “big hits”.
As an example at one stage I worked for a regualtor who did not have an SMP no safety policy and zero safety procedures and had gone through a bucket full of safety managers in one year – that was what I inherited. As soon as mangemnet realise that after the home kitchen, the office can be one of the most dangerous work places with a multitude of risks, then you will usually see a change in attitude just as I did, with support, especially when you can use tools like integrated safety mangement to demonstrate savings to other divisions by having specific policies and procedures as well as programs in place that can go a long way to changing the culture and actually creating savings.
One thing that I ahve always encouraged is networking and Kevin, your blog does an outstanding ongoing job in this regard where persons from across a wide range of business, can not only see and hear thoughts, but also follow up others and the net to find information and develop their own network which supplements their own knowledge base. Translate that into the workforce and what you do and you can see cultural change as well as management approach.
I really believe that for a lot of reguar businesses under OSH, there has not been that appropriate dialogue with management to help them understand what can really impact on a business and create saving across the business as a whole rather than viewing safety as a stand alone group who create red tape and dispelling teh old concept and myth that “we have insurance for those issues”. When you can show a reduction in premiums and loadings, improved productivity, beter morale, reduced absenteeism, etc., then you can get their attention. Yes this will sometimes require some hard decisions by management to allow the broader interaction rather just having the Safety person sitting in a corner out of the way counting statistics on injuries and paper cuts!
Yes it will take more than a day and often more than just the safety person to achieve this, but it is readily achievable and is a benefit to all in any company. don’t give up you can make a difference
Kevin, Kevin, Kevin – as one of the hosts of “For Buck’s Sake” you might have liked to have done some research before putting your fingers on the keyboard and besmirching our show and the people who run it.
We deliberately took on the role of providing the stereotypical perceptions of WHS (it’s not OHS any more here in Australia, Kevin) by employers so that Andrew had something to bounce off. It was deliberate and something discussed with Andrew beforehand.
Indeed, it was because of Andrew’s refreshing approach that we asked him on the show in the first place.
And the show is not based in Adelaide, it is in the Barossa Valley in regional South Australia – something else you would have discovered with some quick researching.
Your condescending comments were a poor attempt at insulting us but instead, all you have managed to do is to insult yourself.
Brad, thanks for the feedback. Sorry if my article caused offence. None was intended.
I have amended the original article to reflect that the program is not broadcast from Adelaide. Also, OHS laws remain operational in Western Australia and Victoria. I have taken a conscious decision to use OHS as my preferred term as it is a more widely recognised term for workplace safety for this blog’s international readership.
I was unaware that you had taken on roles in the program. In my conversations with Andrew prior to writing the article, this was not mentioned.
Thanks again for commenting.