Blog – Page 6 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Copyright infringements

Over the last couple of weeks I have had to chase websites that have reproduced entire SafetyAtWorkBlog articles without any permission. Please pay careful attention to the Copyright Notice on the left of the page, and reproduced below.

Those who reproduce articles without permission will be contacted to remove the content or be invoiced for the use of the copyrighted article.

Please remember that requests can be emailed to me at the link below. Most of the existing articles can be purchased through Newstex and you can always commission articles.

Kevin Jones Continue reading “Copyright infringements”

SafetyAtWorkBlog receives its 500,000th view

SafetyAtWorkBlog began in February 2008 with 27 views. In August 2012, the blog had its 500,000th view on this site. For a small independent weblog – in a niche topic – in Australia, that statistic is remarkable.

View statistics vary a lot but in August the blog came back to its average of over 500 views each day.

Thanks to everyone who reads the articles. Thanks to those who write some of them, and thanks to everyone who comments, takes me to task or appreciates my effort.

Kevin Jones

What is behind guest blog articles?

Over the last 12 months, SafetyAtWorkBlog has received many unsolicited “guest posts” and almost all of these include links back to commercial sites that have some relationship to the author. I consider this advertising and reject the posts. However the writers and, sometime, public relations agencies could be coming cleverer. The following article is not about workplace safety per se but if safety professionals and others are going to rely on safety information available on social media, Facebook, blogs etc. it is essential they can have faith in the reliability of this information. Below is a record of a brief search for such reliability in a blog article submission, a search for reliability that all blog owners should consider.

An unsolicited guest post was submitted to SafetyAtWorkBlog by Brooke Kerwin on 6 March 2012. A sample article was requested with a brief profile of the author. An article was received entitled “Employees in Automobile Industry Face Changing Safety with Technology“. The article ( that “I have written specifically for your blog”) contained three links – two to category links within the SafetyAtWorkBlog and one to distracteddrivinghelp.com. The third link actually related to the subject matter of this article but as there was no profile provided for Brooke Kerwin, I searched for the name through the internet.

On March 8 2012, Brooke Kerwin had a guest post published at Rethinking Patient Safety. That article had one link to the Rethinking Patient Safety blog, a link to National Patient Safety Week and a third link to distracteddrivinghelp.com. Continue reading “What is behind guest blog articles?”

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 160,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 7 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Look for evidence in online OHS content

In occupational health and safety, as with any profession, it is useful to ask for evidence. When on a work site, it is important to always ask “why?” Why do you do your work task that way? Why are you not wearing the PPE that everyone else is wearing? Why are you working such late hours?

But in the publishing and internet world it is equally important to ask for evidence from safety commentators. The SafetyAtWorkBlog has an editorial policy and practice of linking back to original material, articles or court cases, if they are available online, or providing some other references so that readers can source the original material, the evidence on which an article is based or a comment made. This type of editorial policy and practice is missing from many blogs leading, as a result, to the perception of a lack of authority. The latest example of this is the 30 Days of OHS campaign by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA).

The 30 Days of OHS campaign is a new strategy for the SIA and it should be applauded for trying something new. But the initial editorial practice for the early campaign contributions is shaky. For instance, the 12 October 2011 article on resilience says

“..in a recent survey….” and

“..research has clearly shown…”

The author, Rhett Morris, has told SafetyAtWorkBlog that the survey mentioned was undertaken for a client. (Morris has provided a copy of the survey which is available HERE). When contacted by SafetyAtWorkBlog Morris had not been advised that the article had been accepted for the campaign let alone it being online. He also stressed that the article is a 400-word extract from a much longer article, a fact that the SIA should have included in order to provide a better context for the article. There is clearly more dialogue required between the SIA and contributors. Continue reading “Look for evidence in online OHS content”

Editorial policy and copyright

Recently one SafetyAtWorkBlog reader accused SafetyAtWorkBlog of closing down debate by rejecting or questioning a comment. SafetyAtWorkBlog is a moderated blog meaning that all comments are read and assessed prior to posting. It is essential for a blog of this type to apply editorial scrutiny and will continue to do so.

Part of our editorial policy, or discretion, is that comments will be rejected, usually with an explanation, if they do not relate to the original blog article or they become abusive.

Recently there has been an increase across the blogosphere of marketers submitting comments specifically to provide links back to their own websites or as spam. In many circumstances this action is advertising by stealth and marketers can expect SafetyAtWorkBlog to open discussions on paid advertising options. The spam is filtered for deletion.

One particular risks of blogs is that some people belive that anything on the internet is free to be reproduced. This is not the case with SafetyAtWorkBlog who takes the copyright statement on our posts and pages seriously.

The copyright statement allows for “excerpts” to be used on other blogs but recently one reader not only reproduced an entire article but the comments people had posted as well. SafetyAtWorkBlog demanded the removal of the copyrighted material and the content was, reluctantly, removed by the website owner. Continue reading “Editorial policy and copyright”

OHS news and content suggestions welcome

Recently, readers have been providing tip-offs to OHS issues that are not being covered by the traditional media. SafetyAtWorkBlog has always inhabited this niche but is looking to expand its story source options.

I am encouraging readers to provide not only news tip-offs but to also suggest safety issues that could form the basis of a SafetyAtWorkBlog article. For instance, do you know of an extraordinary safety person whose story requires a broader audience? Is there a design fault with a safety product that the manufacturer is not attending to? Is the application of a safety law having an unexpected effect at a workplace?

Tip-offs and suggestions can be anonymous but I reserve the right to reject any suggestions that I feel are not suitable for the SafetyAtWorkBlog. The more specific and detailed your information for the article (contact details, photos, reference documents etc.), the higher the priority given.

But don’t forget that if you have the writing bug, you are welcome to send through articles for consideration.

Kevin Jones

Category: Blog

Copyright infringements

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SafetyAtWorkBlog receives its 500,000th view

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What is behind guest blog articles?

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2011 in review

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Look for evidence in online OHS content

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Editorial policy and copyright

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OHS news and content suggestions welcome

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