Category: consultation

Case study of existing hazards in the new legislative context

Last month Joe Catanzariti of the Australian law firm, Clayton Utz, wrote a short article that links two OHS issues in a manner that others should follow.

Catanzariti made the jump from a prosecution under current New South Wales OHS legislation (according to many the most draconian in Australia) to identify how such a decision would be made under the harmonise OHS law system through the Work, Health and Safety Act.  The perspective needs to be applied more as it assists greatly in transitioning our understanding of “old” law to the new. Continue reading “Case study of existing hazards in the new legislative context”

Harmonisation strategy will fail and legal costs for OHS will increase

The Australian Government’s plans to harmonise the country’s OHS legislation will fail.  In the Australian newspaper on 6 May 2010 the president of the Safety, Rehabilitation & Compensation Licensees Association, Dean Stone, said

“Harmonisation was aimed at having the same law in force across the country but it is simply not going to be able to do that…  Each of the companies moving back to the harmonised schemes will need more staff merely to comply with the different approaches.” Continue reading “Harmonisation strategy will fail and legal costs for OHS will increase”

Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig

More information is coming to light about the treatment of survivors of the explosion on the Transocean oil rig.  According to an article (and podcast) on National Public Radio on 6 May 2010, company lawyers for Transocean had survivors sign waivers within hours of the disaster.

The article says:

“The form that they made them sign had, ‘I was here when it happened, I didn’t see anything.’ Or ‘I saw this and I was or was not hurt,’ ” says Steven Gordon, a Houston attorney who represents some of the survivors…. Continue reading “Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig”

Australia to get a national workers’ memorial

Last year, Tasmania began building a memorial garden for people who have been killed at work.  South Australia has the Don Gage Memorial Walk.  Queensland unveiled its new workers’ memorial on 28 April 2010.  The Australian government has finally sought to establish a national memorial in Canberra in support of the International Day of Mourning.

According to media statements from the Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, and Senator Doug Cameron (former National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union) a committee will look into establishing an appropriate memorial in Canberra. Continue reading “Australia to get a national workers’ memorial”

National recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day – US & UK

The United States President, Barack Obama, has officially proclaimed 28 April 2010 as Workers Memorial Day.

It may be a politically appropriate announcement given the multiple fatalities that have happened recently in the United States, which the President mentions, but this should not overlook the fact that the leader of one of the most influential countries in the world has acknowledged the International Day of Mourning. Continue reading “National recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day – US & UK”

Exploding restaurant kettle risks

WorkSafeBC is a regular provider of useful safety videos.  In mid-April 2010 the regulator released a latest video that reports on an exploding soup kettle in a restaurant that injured several workers with steel shrapnel and steam.

Safety prevention videos are costly to produce properly and WorkSafeBC has followed a process that is informative and simple but providing a slide show with an audio commentary.  This is a technique that makes use of the many incident photos that OHS investigators take without compromising the investigation and still offering a much more attractive and appealing safety alert.  It is a technique that other OHS regulators should consider.

Kevin Jones

Unprecedented interest in workplace bullying

On 25 March 2010, at the first of ten workplace bullying information seminars, WorkSafe Victoria, claimed to have a world-class approach to combating workplace bullying.  The Europeans may dispute the claim but there is no doubt that WorkSafe is on the right path in responding to the unprecedented community interest in the issue.

In a packed hall in the City of Melbourne, Trevor Martin, WorkSafe’s Strategic Programs Director, acknowledged the considerable media interest in the hazard over the last few years, and particularly since the prosecution of four men in associated with bullying at Cafe Vamp.  Martin said that WorkSafe’s advisory help line has been receiving more that 40 calls per day on bullying and harassment issues and that

“In February [2010] 560 calls were received …… 10%, 56 cases made it through to the dedicated unit for further work to be done.  That is an astonishing number of calls to WorkSafe on a single issue.” Continue reading “Unprecedented interest in workplace bullying”

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