In the ongoing debates about workplace safety, a critical question is often left unasked: What are employers doing to ensure safe and healthy work environments, and why are their responsibilities so frequently underplayed in public discourse? Too often, when workplace safety issues arise, the conversation quickly shifts to affordability and government intervention.
Continue reading “Employer Responsibility in Workplace Safety is Being Overlooked”Category: communication
Breaking the Silence: Dekker’s Call for Authentic Voice in OHS
Any new book from Sidney Dekker is worth reading. His latest is called “Safety Theater – How the Desire for Perfection Drives Compliance Clutter, Inauthenticity, and Accidents”. I am not sure that this book, the third in a series, offers solutions, but it reframes many of the contemporary perspectives on occupational health and health and safety (OHS), and with some intriguing connections.
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What is the most persistent barrier to employers preventing psychosocial hazards?
Two prominent experts on psychosocial hazards at work, featuring at the Psych Health and Safety Conference later this week in Sydney, Mary Ann Baynton and I. David Daniels, responded to my question to them (and other speakers) listed in the title above.
Mary Ann Baynton’s response first:
“The two most persistent barriers to employers preventing psychosocial hazards are a misunderstanding of what is required and the belief that it would cost too much in terms of time and effort….”
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Stakeholder vs. Shareholder: The Capitalism Clash Shaping Safer Workplaces
Elements of Andrew Hopkins’ latest book have been spinning in my head for a couple of weeks as they echo my thoughts on occupational health and safety (OHS) over the last few years. I cannot shake his discussion of stakeholder capitalism and shareholder capitalism. These two elements of business management are crucial to our understanding of OHS and how we should proceed, particularly in relation to psychological health.
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Andrew Hopkins article translated for Gen Alpha
Last week, I wrote an article about Andrew Hopkins’ new safety leadership book about Boeing’s management style. It was a popular article, but this last weekend I wondered if I was talking about it in a way that failed to engage with younger readers and potential subscribers. So I asked an Artificial Intelligence program to translate the Hopkins article into language commonly used by Generation Alpha. Below is that translation (some I don’t understand), which offers an interesting linguistic contrast.
New Book Alert: Andrew Hopkins Just Called Out the Corporate Safety Scam 🚨
Andrew Hopkins just dropped a new book, and it’s basically him going full savage on how modern companies—especially Boeing—put profits over people. It’s short (only 81 pages), but it hits HARD. Like, “how did we let this happen?” hard.
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Outcomes of an agriculture OHS roundtable
New South Wales recently ran its annual roundtable for the agriculture sector, focusing on workplace health and safety. A joint media release from the Ministers for Agriculture and Work Health and Safety, Tara Moriarty and Sophie Cotsis, respectively, acknowledged that:
“Agriculture remains one of Australia’s most dangerous industries, with consistently high rates of workplace fatalities and serious injuries. In 2024, SafeWork NSW responded to 12 workplace fatalities in the agricultural industry in NSW.”
But what was the outcome of the roundtable?
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Australia needs an “OHS for HR” book
SafeWorkSA has published fascinating information about preventing “harmful workplace behaviours.” The webpage’s eye-catching part is the Hierarchy of Controls for Managing the Risk of Harmful Workplace Behaviours, but the article is curious.
The audience for information from occupational health and safety (OHS) regulators is supposedly everyone, but it is rarely read by anyone other than OHS advocates. However, any information about psychosocial risks and hazards needs to be written in a tone that attracts the attention of those in businesses who have established ownership of these hazards, primarily the Human Resources (HR) person. SafeWorkSA’s page fails to reach this target.
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