Benjamin Artz, Amanda H. Goodall and Andrew J. Oswald determined that
“There are no published papers — to our knowledge — that assess in an internationally consistent way the rarity or commonness of ‘bad bosses’.”
So they undertook there own research, published under the title “
The business sector of Australia has been remarkably quiet on the recent media attention given to hazard of silicosis in, particularly, the synthetic stone commonly used as kitchen benchtops. However the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) did make a media statement.
It largely emphasised its role as a member of Safe Work Australia and the action taken on silicosis matters through that mechanism. However membership of a tripartite consultative mechanism does not mean that that is the only pathway for change. SafetyAtWorkBlog put some questions to ACCI about silicosis and its Associate Director, Work Health & Safety and Workers’ Compensation Policy, Jennifer Low, responded:
SAWB: The media statement says that ACCI will continue to be active through its representation on Safe Work Australia. Are there any specific dust-related initiatives that ACCI is recommending to its members? Perhaps in relation to supply chain safety on high silica-content products? Continue reading “ACCI on silicosis”
Will the recommendations of the Senate Committee’s inquiry into industrial deaths benefit relatives of deceased workers? Yes, mostly.
It seemed like relatives gained greater access to this Senate Committee than in other inquiries. Some public hearings were held with only relatives presenting. This is a major change. The transcripts of the 2012
On October 12 2018 the Australian Financial Review (AFR) published an exclusive article about an investigation by WorkSafe Victoria into excessive working hours at an Australian law firm, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM). The article was later expanded on line.
There are several curious elements of this report that could reflect other workplaces that may experience sudden high workload demands and fatigue. Some seem to see the significance of this article as being less about the workloads and fatigue but more about WorkSafe Victoria’s involvement in an industry sector where it does not usually play.
The Australian Government announced a Royal Commission into the Banking and Financial sectors in 2017. It was created urgently and given only 12 months to conclude its investigations. As a result banks and financial institutions
It was reported on October 11 2018 that Australia’s Health Minister, Greg Hunt, has called for:
“… state workplace regulators to immediately investigate risks to the health of stonemasons, and stop unsafe work practices.”
Some reports have said that a statement was issued:
“Mr Hunt issued a statement saying he and the Chief Medical Officer would raise the issue at a health COAG meeting in Adelaide on Friday. He said the meeting would be asked to consider whether a national dust diseases register should be developed.”
However the Minister’s Office has advised SafetyAtWorkBlog that no formal statement has been made. This makes it a bit hard to determine what exactly he is asking for on the prevention of silicosis but the States have begun to respond.
The Victorian Minister for Health,
Rumours of a TV report on the increasing hazards of silicosis have floated around for a week or so. On October 10 2018, the show appeared on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7.30 program. But the story is much bigger than the ten minutes or so on that program.
The focus is understandably on silica but perhaps that is too specific. Maybe the issue of dust, in general, needs more attention.
However,
Occupational health and safety (OHS) related decisions are made on the state of knowledge about hazards and it is up to OHS people to make sure the state of knowledge is at its best so that the best decisions can be made. But what do you do if the state of knowledge on a hazard seems to be made purposely uncertain and that uncertainty is leading to the status quo, which also happens to provide a huge income for the owner of the product creating the hazard.
This seems to be a situation at the moment in Australia in relation to the use of the weedkiller, glyphosate, marketed heavily by the global chemical company, Monsanto. The alleged corruption of data on which OHS people and workers base their safety decisions was perhaps one of the most disturbing elements of the recent ABC Four Corners program on the chemical (