conference – Page 3 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Tough questions about psychosocial safety and health

Over the next week or so, SafetyAtWorkBlog will be focusing on the issue of psychosocial hazards and psychological risks at work, as we cover the Psych Health and Safety Conference in Sydney. These risks and hazards are the most pressing topic in occupational health and safety (OHS) at the moment, with an increased demand for solutions from workers and the community, as well as heightened expectations for regulatory compliance. I apologise for this intense focus, but I welcome your comments and participation.

I will start by posing this question:

“The Australian approaches to psychosocial hazards and psychological safety in Human Resources and Work Health and Safety have been siloed in the past. Are the approaches getting closer? Is there more cooperation between the two or are the two disciplines’ aims still too different?”

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From Work to Incident to Harm to Hurt to Repair to Work

I. David Daniels has gained prominence in Australia through his association with FlourishDx and his appearances at the Psych Health and Safety conferences. Recently, he has published a book on psychosocial hazards and risks. All of this collateral adds authority to his thoughts, but he remains a work in progress for me, a work that I am starting to value and enjoy. Recently, in one of his LinkedIn conversations, he seemed to be implying a new and fresh timeline of workplace mental health, which got me thinking about “harm”, “injury”, “hurt, “damage”, and “trauma”. Daniels wrote:

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From Sidekick to Spotlight: WHS Show Steps Up, But a Few Big Players are missing

Over the last couple of decades, the Workplace Health and Safety Show has evolved from a trade show tacked onto occupational health and safety (OHS) conferences to an independent entity. But is it any good? I spent a few hours there last week to find out.

The Workplace Health and Safety Show is a two-day event that travels to major Australian capital cities each year. Its origin was as a trade show that accompanied OHS conferences, offering a clearly commercial counterpoint to the regulators and academic presentations at the conferences. The challenge in attracting conference delegates was that they had usually paid big money to attend the conference and needed to make a trade-off between their commitment to the conference and the opportunity to stroll the trade show. Other than lunchtime, the conferences rarely allocated enough time for the trade shows, which are an important part of demonstrating the practical application of many of the concepts presented at the conference.

Publicity about the right to disconnect was “overblown”

Recently, the “right to disconnect” gained some prominence in Australia. This right, now legislated, allows employees and workers to choose not to respond to employer communications outside of contracted working hours. This was part of recognising that time away from work allows one to focus on non-work matters like family, socialising, mental relaxation, and more.

According to much mainstream media and the statements and lobbying of various business associations, the sky would fall (a phrase that appears with any proposed change that business groups do not like). A significant change has not happened, and the sky has not fallen. At a recent labour law conference, Fair Work Commission President Adam Hatcher described the publicity as overblown.

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ALLA and sexual harassment

To understand one’s profession, one must find out how others see it. You may think your actions are vital to the world’s survival, but if others think you are full of shit, you need to revise your strategy. Occupational health and safety (OHS) has a strong sense of its importance but is often seen by others as a nuisance, even when acknowledging its legitimacy.

The Australian Labour Law Association (ALLA) recently held its national conference in Geelong, Victoria. The conference was a curious beast.

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“If you don’t sound the alarm, who will?” Matt Peacock and work health and safety

Prominent investigative journalist, Matt Peacock, has died from pancreative cancer. Few of us are lucky enough to save people’s lives, some of us change the world. Matt did both. He was never an occupational health and safety (OHS) specialist but his impact on the world of work, especially in Australia was profound and, probably, unmatched.

In 2019, I was helping the (then) Safety Institute of Australia with its conferences. I approached Matt to speak at the 2019 national conference dinner in Sydney, hoping he would be provocative. (Here is an article from that time) He shocked many in the audience when saying:

“..my message tonight is that if you were all doing your jobs properly, then I wouldn’t have had anything to report on in the first place.”

He did not let up on his challenging criticism that night. Below is the full transcript of his presentation, available for the first time.

Kevin Jones

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“How can I make my workers safer?”

Most of the Australian occupational health and safety (OHS) regulators have released their calendars of events for October. There are many invaluable events, especially for those in small- to medium-sized businesses or who have been delegated as “responsible” for OHS in those companies. There are several special events and symposiums for those of working in OHS full time, but here are three themes that I would like to see discussed during the 2024 National Safe Work Month?

Category: conference

Tough questions about psychosocial safety and health

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From Work to Incident to Harm to Hurt to Repair to Work

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From Sidekick to Spotlight: WHS Show Steps Up, But a Few Big Players are missing

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Publicity about the right to disconnect was “overblown”

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ALLA and sexual harassment

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“If you don’t sound the alarm, who will?” Matt Peacock and work health and safety

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“How can I make my workers safer?”

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