Adam Smith was a prominent Scottish 18th-century economist and philosopher, sometimes referred to as the “Father of Economics”. What relevance could he have to occupational health and safety (OHS) in Australia? The modern OHS concern of psychosocial hazards, psychological safety and worker wellbeing should cause us to read Smith’s works on the morality of capitalism. …
“WFH is probably good for productivity” was a headline in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) of May 29 2025. The online version (paywalled) added “if it’s part-time”. The Productivity Commission‘s examination of the COVID-19 pandemic in its “before-and-after” report presents some new perspectives on occupational health and safety (OHS) aspects of working from home....
On March 17 2023, the Australian government released the Productivity Commission’s latest 5-year Productivity Inquiry report. At well over a thousand pages, few people are going to read it to the level it deserves. Nor will I, but I have dipped into it and found a couple of important comments that relate directly to the …
Productivity, like Safety, is one of those words that is used frequently without a clear and uniform definition. This causes confusion when advocating for occupational health and safety (OHS) interventions that improve productivity. Safety does not increase productivity but it can minimize lost productivity. Let me try to explain by focusing on labour productivity. Every … Continue reading “Be clear on what is meant by productivity”
The Australian Government has released the terms of reference into its Productivity Commission inquiry into mental health. The inquiry has broad aims that clearly include occupational health and safety (OHS) and may set some evidence challenges for some of those in the workplace wellbeing sector: “It will look at how governments across Australia, employers, professional …
One of the arguments that occupational health and safety (OHS) consultants use to convince employers of the importance of workplace safety is that good safety management will increase productivity through the reduction of disruptive incidents. But there are various types of productivity. Multi-factorial productivity (what business lobbyists usually talk about) is declining in Australia BUT … Continue reading “Evidence needed for the productivity benefits of workplace safety”
Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC) released a 5 year productivity review called “Shifting the Dial“. It is one of those large government reports from which lots of people draw lots of conclusions. Chapter 3 in this report addresses Future Skills and Work within which occupational health and safety (OHS) is mentioned in a useful and important …
