Category: communication

New public sector bullying guideline

In late-December 2010, the State Services Authority issued a new OHS/HR publication entitled “Tackling Bullying“.  The guide is aimed squarely at the public sector but should be of interest for any organisation that has a large number of office-based staff.

This guide is a good example of how the OHS guidelines can be tailored to specific industries and circumstances.  The “further resources” section also includes a considerable number of hyperlinks to current bullying documents.

Public servants often have a very different approach to psycho-social issues of bullying and stress because the public service is a unique work environment where considerable resources have been traditionally devoted to staff welfare.  In some ways, this uniqueness can provide a level of sensitivity to OHS issues that is not reflected in other industry sectors.   Continue reading “New public sector bullying guideline”

Undercover Boss is an example of executive alienation

“Undercover Boss” has become a popular television program in many countries over the last few years.  The format is fresh and the results revealing.  The eyes of each boss are opened to the deficiencies of a business and to the value of the workforce.  Each episode ends with the reward of acknowledgement to the workers and new wisdom to the boss.

But the show is also an indictment of the attitudes of, and the management training provided, to senior executives.  Why were the employees not being valued by the executives already?  How did the executives lose touch?

If business management, corporate structures, and management training was rooted in the reality of work rather than profit, a series like Undercover Boss would never have been possible.

The concept of an executive maintaining a perspective of frontline customer contact is not new.   Continue reading “Undercover Boss is an example of executive alienation”

WorkSafe tries new twist on OHS ads

On 2 January 2011, WorkSafe Victoria launched a new advertisement that presents a new twist on their “homecoming” campaign.  It focuses on the “door knock” – a process many police dread where they must inform the family of the death of a relative.

The ad is a fresh and new dimension on the long-running OHS awareness campaign and is welcome.  Continue reading “WorkSafe tries new twist on OHS ads”

Telling is better than being exposed

Many OHS laws place obligations on employers to notify regulators (   )  of any particularly serious (often defined) incidents.  In many jurisdictions regulators are sometimes informed of work-related hospital admissions, for instance, even if employers do not notify.  But there is substantial benefit in notifying the regulators early.

Anecdotal evidence shows that by facing up to the reality that an incident has occurred is less costly in the long term as this shows that one is aware of one’s OHS obligations and willing to apply them.

The wisdom of reporting incidents in a timely manner is perhaps illustrated by a 17 December 2010 article in The Age newspaper.  It is rumoured that incidents involving apprentice tiler Kane Ammerlaan may not have been reported to the OHS regulator in Victoria, WorkSafe.

Prompt reporting may not have been able to improve Ammerlaan’s situation relating to the fall but investigations into this possibly life-changing incident could have begun much earlier, and when evidence was easier to collate.

Ammerlaan also alleges that:

‘Through my six weeks I was constantly abused. There was a lot of verbal abuse; they’d throw stuff at me; I was shot with a nail gun on a few occasions.”

This may raise, yet again, the safety issue of the treatment of young workers and apprentices; an issue on which the community seems to require regular reminding.

Kevin Jones

Silly safety memes, knowledge dumps, body of knowledge and accreditation.

Kevin Jones’s piece on the HSE dilemma with odd reporting of OH&S issues (silly stuff like the popular media reporting HSE banning toothpicks) got me thinkin’ about how silly attitudes about OH&S requirements come about.  And maybe there is something to learn from this when thinking about the OH&S body of knowledge and accreditation system.

Clearly the HSE has every reason to be disturbed by the tone that is developing about OH&S in the UK.  A contemptuous tone has a knock-on effect that undermines confidence in OH&S generally.

But how does this come about in the first place? Are they spontaneous, or is it a case of one ill-considered bit of advice spreading as a meme?[1] And irrespective of the cause, why are these silly safety memes embraced so readily?

Is it because there are enough people more than happy to join in on denigrating OH&S because they simply have had enough of overly complex or unrealistic obligations?  Or maybe the average punter has tired of high-sounding OH&S objectives that don’t turn real in a way that matters to them? Continue reading “Silly safety memes, knowledge dumps, body of knowledge and accreditation.”

SafetyAtWorkBlog is one of the top 25 workplace blogs for 2010: LexisNexis

I am proud to inform you that the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation Law Community has chosen SafetyAtWorkBlog as on of it  “2010 honorees for the Top 25 Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issue“.

LexisNexis stated that:

“A winner last year as well, SafetyAtWorkBlog by Australian Kevin Jones is an excellent foreign OSHA and workers’ compensation product that features news and analysis of workplace issues on the other side of the globe.  This straight forward Blog provides insight and informative content into international worker safety developments, marrying the law, business processes, medicine, and social concerns into thought provoking commentaries.”

In the blogosphere and in OHS there are few opportunities for kudos for writing about workplace safety issues.  Many OHS organisations only communicate with members yet the profession is far larger than any one organisation.  I write the SafetyAtWorkBlog because safety needs interpretation, sometimes even translation, and, perhaps even more importantly, that voice needs to be independent.  The award from LexisNexis gives me hope that I am on the right track.

Please check out the other honorees at the LexisNexis site as several are new and are great sources of information

Kevin Jones FSIA

Safety website says OHS association is heartless

Safety In Australia has posted an extraordinary article questioning the decision of the Safety Institute of Australia to proceed with a process to consider the expulsion of one of its members regardless of the member recently suffering a heart attack.

The article says that the SIA has received a doctor’s letter saying that Phil Kamay, the member in question, should not attend the special general meeting on health grounds but the SIA has decided to proceed regardless. Safety In Australia questions this decision on the grounds of fairness. It is unclear who, if anyone, will be presenting Kamay’s rebuttal of the accusations against him that have led to the expulsion moves.

On an unrelated note, it is understood that the SIA has two tables booked for Worksafe Victoria’s Safety Awards late next week and that Phil Kamay is a guest at one of those tables.

Kevin Jones

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