Legal Professional Privilege is the OHS equivalent of the Non-Disclosure Agreement

Pam Gurner-Hall is no stranger to this blog. Recently she appeared in an article by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) about access to information from South Australia’s occupational health and safety (OHS) regulator, SafeWorkSA. SafeWorkSA has been under considerable scrutiny for the last few years. A “root and branch” review conducted by John Merritt is …

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Justice delayed is justice denied

The Ballarat Courier is reporting that the prosecution of Pipecon over the deaths of two workers from a trench collapse in March 2018 has been delayed again. It seems the reasons for the delay include renovation works on the courthouse and the workload of the Court. Judge Gerard Mulally‘s decision came the same week as …

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Many safety lessons from one workplace death

The Coronial Finding in to the death of Jorge Castillo-Riffo is an important occupational health and safety (OHS) document. It discusses, amongst other matters, A curious attitude from SafeWorkSA The role of Safe Work Method Statements and risk assessments Using the right plant for the right task Contractual relationships Construction methodology. More issues than these …

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Scissor Lift death findings clarify the context of OHS

If all you knew about occupational health and safety (OHS) was what you read in the physical or online newspapers , you would not know anything about safety management – or maybe anything positive.  It takes being involved with managing safety in the real world to understand how OHS operates in the real world.  But …

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Families get a good deal from the Industrial Deaths inquiry

Will the recommendations of the Senate Committee’s inquiry into industrial deaths benefit relatives of deceased workers? Yes, mostly. It seemed like relatives gained greater access to this Senate Committee than in other inquiries.  Some public hearings were held with only relatives presenting.  This is a major change.  The transcripts of the 2012 Parliamentary inquiry into …

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CFMEU steps up the OHS pressure

SafetyAtWorkBlog has dipped into the occupational health and safety (OHS) and political issues around the death of Jorge Castillo-Riffo in Adelaide in 2014.  On October 4 2018, the CFMEU issued a media release outlining the recommendations it made to the Coronial inquest into Castillo-Riffo’s death.  They deserve serious consideration: Mandatory coronial inquests should be held …

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Inquiry into industrial deaths moves to Adelaide

Conversations about occupational health and safety (ohs) occur very rarely unless you are an educator who talks about this stuff every day.  We manage health and safety and advise on it but rarely get a chance just to talk about safety with peers.  This is where documents like the recent transcripts of Australia’s Senate inquiry …

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