Tonight, SafetyAtWorkBlog will be attending the launch of a new book that includes personal stories about the 1998 Esso Longford explosion – Workers’ Inferno. The book is being released on the 2oth anniversary of the explosion that killed two workers, injured many others, disrupted gas supplies to the State of Victoria, resulted in a then-record fine for occupational health and safety (OHS) breaches and generated a Royal Commission. It is also, perhaps, the best example of a company trying to blame the worker for a major incident.
The Federal Opposition leader, Bill Shorten, was an official of the Australian Workers Union at the time and today he published an opinion piece Continue reading “Bill Shorten reflects on the Esso Longford disaster”
It is a common tactic for procrastinators to acknowledge a problem and then point to an ill-defined, fluffy concept as the problem because that fluffiness makes it almost impossible to change, some use the phrase “wicked problem” similarly. The fluffy concept may be too difficult for most to understand, or the benefits will not be quick enough or not fit into an unrealistic preconceived schedule. “Safety Culture”, or the currently preferred term “organisational culture that includes safety”, is often used to justify this procrastination.
