Most safety professionals can tell stories about how workplace injuries are hidden so that bonuses or rewards are still distributed even though they are not warranted. Most of these examples are at the shop-floor level where rewards, although much anticipated, are minor – first aid kits, movie tickets, sometimes money – and where peer pressure can be quite overpowering. But occasionally a situation is revealed where senior executives also rort the system in order to obtain a reward or a bonus. In September 2010, the UK union Unite has revealed just such a case in Network Rail, a case where the chairman has acknowledged that greed played a role. Continue reading “UK case exposes the hypocrisy of leadership commitment”
Category: business
BP releases internal Gulf disaster report
BP has released its internal inquiry report into the Deep Horizon oil rig disaster. The company has released an executive summary, the full report, a video and a press release. Not surprising there are multiple factors that combined to create the disaster but it is significant that BP stresses that ““multiple companies and work teams” contributed to the accident”. Clearly a major purpose of the media statements is to indicate that BP should carry the entire responsibility for the incident, a position it has consistently voiced.
The report requires a fair amount of analysis to identify the lessons and any lessons will need to be compared with any of the findings from the other investigations being undertaken. Also, BP has settled into its PR damage control process and careful analysis of the report and the media statements over the next few days in particular will provide much information on process safety, business continuity and media management.
Death at work and work-related death
People die every day. Some die in their sleep in bed, some collapse in the street, some suicide at a place of their choosing, others die at work. But for those who die at work there is an important differentiation between dying at work and dying from work.
The differentiation can be fairly simple to determine but can be muddied by workplace politics. For instance, the South Australian desalination project (video report available) has had one work-related fatality but there have been at least three deaths on-site. Determining what is work-related is important for safety managers as this affects the way an incident is investigated, the resources allocated to the investigation and the level of emphasis placed on prevention. Continue reading “Death at work and work-related death”
Australia’s Safety Week
The last week of October each year is Safety Week in Australia. It exists under different names in each State but everyone coordinates events for the same time each year. Below are some links for further information, some are more developed than others.
In 2009, I was a Safety Ambassador for Safe Work Australia and found that if one was prepared to give, the rewards were ten-fold.
If you are in Australia I strongly recommend attending one of the many free OHS information events. If you are outside Australia, regularly check the Australia OHS regulator websites for some innovative approaches to safety and its promotion.
Australian Capital Territory (yes, the ACT has a month of activities)
Pressure grows for the release of oil drilling investigation
The Australian government has indicated that it will release a report into the Montara oil spill after the general election. However the Australian election result remains in doubt and, therefore, still no report.
The frustration over this stalling has begun to appear in the very conservative Australian newspaper, The Australian Financial Review (AFR). Once the business and financial community start complaining, a government knows something is serious.
In the AFR editorial on 1 September 2010 (not available online),
“The Borthwick report is likely to make some tough recommendations on safety procedures to prevent another spill. The inquiry heard extraordinary evidence that crucial work programs on the rig were sometimes scrawled on a whiteboard. PTTEP has a promised to review its procedures in the light of the deficiencies raised at the inquiry, but the government should look further afield. It is hard to imagine that PTTEP was a totally isolated case.” Continue reading “Pressure grows for the release of oil drilling investigation”
The cost of not having first aid
On 30 August 2010, WorkSafe Victoria released a media statement about a case in a Magistrates’ Court concerning the death of a worker. Nothing new in that but in this case first aid gains a prominence that is rarely seen because in this case adequate first aid was not provided. The uniqueness of the case justifies reproducing the media release in full:
“A Melbourne magistrate has described the failure of a Cheltenham company to seek first aid for a worker who hit his head and later died as ‘outrageous’.
Metal products manufacturer Pressfast Industries Pty Ltd was convicted and fined last week after a 2008 incident where a worker fell over and hit his head on concrete after being struck by a forklift.
The 60 year-old man was later found unconscious at work and died in hospital two days later.
“There was no qualified first aider on site, and the company failed to call an ambulance or seek first aid for the worker,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Strategic Programs Director Trevor Martin said. “The only staff member with first aid training was certified in 1984, and wasn’t alerted until it was too late,” he said.
In handing down his sentence, Magistrate Andrew Capell referred to the company’s decision not to seek help from the first aider, despite the expired certificate, as ‘outrageous’. Continue reading “The cost of not having first aid”
Are OHS inductions sound?
Mostly no.
Over the years I have experienced site safety inductions that have involved sitting in front of a television and video player in a shed and then telling the safety manager I watched the induction video and understood it.
I have sat in a site shed with a dozen others and endured an induction of scores of PowerPoint presentations and a questionnaire that was, almost, workshopped and did not represent any understanding of the work site’s OHS obligations.
There have been long inductions where there is a lot of information but no handbooks to take away or to refer to later.
There have been OHS inductions that have involved no more than “there are the toilets, the tea room is over there and there’s a fire extinguisher here somewhere”.
Bad induction is an unforgiveable flaw in a company’s safety management system and clearly indicates a careless attitude of companies towards their employees’ and contractors’ safety. The significance of induction should not be underestimated because it has two purposes – to establish a common state of knowledge of all workers on a site before one starts work and to have a reference point for investigations of any incidents. Continue reading “Are OHS inductions sound?”