Earlier this year, the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) launched its OHS Body of Knowledge (BoK) project, an excellent collection of workplace safety information and research but one that has had restrictions imposed on it that seem contrary to its purpose. SafetyAtWorkBlog has communicated repeatedly to the SIA about the BoK project and the, seemingly, … Continue reading “Unanswered questions on Safety Institute activities”
In recent weeks on several LinkedIn discussion forums there has been a series of highly critical postings about the Safety Institute of Australia. (I have participated in some of the discussions.) Many comments have been unfair but almost all decry the absence of clear communication from the SIA and the very low profile of the organisation within Australia. The SIA has struggled … Continue reading “The Safety Institute’s low profile needs to be seen in a media context”
John Lambert has been expelled from the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA). This is a fact that the SafetyAtWorkBlog would not usually report on due to privacy concerns but Lambert has already brought his expulsion to the attention of his occupational health and safety colleagues through various online discussion forums and has agreed to answer the questions below. A … Continue reading “Safety Institute expulsion raises questions about fairness”
The Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) is a very quiet organisation for one that claims to be “Australia’s professional body for health & safety professionals”, particularly considering Australia is undergoing a gentle revolution of its workplace safety laws. But SIA’s recently appointed national secretary, Stephen Thomas, has spoken out, reportedly as an SIA spokesperson, about … Continue reading “Australia’s Safety Institute bemoans the politicisation of OHS”
For many years the Safety Institute of Australia has been uncertain in its media relations. On most of the important OHS issues in the last 10 years the SIA has either been silent for the fear of being “overtly political” or been too slow to react. Its past media releases have almost always been to … Continue reading “The Safety Institute discovers the media”
A member of the Safety Institute of Australia, Sue Bottrell, has taken offence at some of the content in this SafetyAtWorkBlog article. She has claimed, in a proposed legal action against me, that my blog article, based on an article written by Gavin Waugh and published in Australian Safety Matters Magazine, has defamed her. Similar … Continue reading “A bitter internal dispute at the Safety Institute gets a public airing”
Finally, the Safety Institute of Australia has got its act together and has contracted someone who has produced an OHS magazine that, mostly, satisfies the needs of its members and the aims of the Institute. The first edition of OHS Professional landed in the SafetyAtWorkBlog letter box this morning and, it is fair to say … Continue reading “New Safety Institute magazine is (mostly) a winner”