In August 2025, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) released some disturbing occupational health and safety (OHS) statistics involving electrical apprentices. The story was picked up by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in October, Australia’s Safe Work Month. The focus was on improving safety training for apprentices; however, this focus is primarily on lower-order hazard controls and …
The Australian Greens announced on February 7, 2024, that the Right-To-Disconnect (RTD) bill would pass Parliament as part of workplace relations reforms. On February 8, 2024, the mainstream media wrote as if the laws had already been passed. However, several issues with these laws indicate they are unlikely to be applied in practice as widely …
Over many years OHS regulators in Australia have produced guidance notes and Codes of Practice to assist businesses in addressing the hazard of workers working alone. The new model Work Heath and Safety (WHS) Regulations due to be released with several Codes on 26 September 2011 brings the serious hazard of working alone to the front of … Continue reading “Working Alone gets regulatory boost”
One of the most difficult safety management challenges is the control of hazards associated with working alone. The most effective control is to not work alone, but the difficulty comes because this option requires expenditure. WorkSafe Victoria recently released an information sheet on this hazard and listed the following hazard control options: Buddy system Environmental design Communication … Continue reading “New OHS info on Working Alone and Occupational Violence”
Recently, SafetyAtWorkBlog received a long anonymous email concerning the death of David Colson, Tasmanian abalone diver who drowned in October 2007. The Coroner completed his inquest into the death and released his investigation findings in early January 2010. An earlier blog article on the findings can be found here The correspondent pointed out that Allen … Continue reading “Something fishy in Tasmania’s abalone industry”
Western Australia’s WorkSafe has just released its latest guidance on working alone and it is the most practical look at the hazard from any OHS regulator in Australia. Importantly, it differentiates between “alone” and “remote”. In 1995, when the Victorian First Aid Code of Practice raised the issue of isolation, there was considerable confusion. How … Continue reading “Latest guidance on working alone”
Working alone is an established workplace hazard in many industries. The control measure most applied is “don’t work alone” that is, undertake as many work tasks in isolated location with someone supervising or in close contact. Modern technology has often been applied as a possible control measure – “deadman switch”, GPS tracking, mobile phone use. … Continue reading “Working alone – a poorly understood work hazard”
