Why Leadership Empathy Is Not Enough to Prevent Psychosocial Harm

In 2000, Graeme Cowan‘s world collapsed after the “dot-com crash“, leading to an attempt to end his own life. His new book, “Great Leaders Care: Developing Safe, Resilient and Successful Teams“, is an analysis of the consequences of those times and the tools he discovered to stabilise his mental health. There are two clues to …

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Why Modern Leadership Can’t Deliver Safe Work

The most popular solution to physical and psychological occupational health and safety (OHS) problems is leadership. Leadership is crucial to implementing changes to work processes and policies that can prevent harm, yet we often view leadership as executive benevolence, without really examining executive leadership in modern workplaces. Looking at current leadership traits through a different …

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

‘I’ll Obey the Laws I Like’: A (Sad) Leadership Masterclass

The President of the United States has always been recognised as a major leader. The morality they display spreads to global corporate leaders, especially those in the United States, and is promoted by these leaders, business institutions and management publications to business leaders and senior executives in Australia. That is why some of President Donald …

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

What changes does Leadership Require

In the landscape of occupational health and safety (OHS), executive leadership is often framed through the lens of compliance. However, as I and others have long argued, the law is the minimum; leadership must aim higher. Across hundreds of SafetyAtWorkBlog articles, a consistent theme emerges – safety leadership must evolve from bureaucratic oversight to moral … Continue reading “What changes does Leadership Require”

Unsafe Back Then, Unsafe Now. Why Leadership Must Change

To truly understand occupational health and safety (OHS) issues, it is necessary to examine OHS concerns beyond one’s own industry. Recently, this blog has reported on some parliamentary debates on OHS in the horse racing industry. The November edition of The Monthly includes an exposé of the OHS of Australia’s horse racing industry by freelance …

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

When Leadership Fails the Soul

Dean Yates is a prominent Australian speaker on the issue of moral injury. Yesterday, at a WorkSafe Tasmania seminar, Yates brought the 250 attendees up to date on the status of moral injury and its occupational context. Although this seminar was a Safe Work Month event, Yates’ information requires some thought to fit with the …

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Keep away from Leadership and start to progress

Lately I have been thinking a lot about Leadership and how it dominates, and unchallenged, how occupational health and safety is managed in Australia. Of the three OHS/business books I bought this week, one included a page about Leadership and how we should move away from it....

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here