Category: culture

The Socialisation of Work Health and Safety

We like to pretend OHS begins with a regulation or a checklist, but the truth is far less glamorous: it starts with the basic childhood lesson of “don’t hurt people.” Everything else is just the paperwork society builds around that idea. Part of that “paperwork” is the process of socialisation.

There are several definitions of socialisation:

  • learning how to live in a way acceptable to one’s own society,
  • interacting with others, of being social, and
  • implementing socialism.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is part of all three (the third is more debatable). Socialisation is often seen as a personal experience, but in most instances, socialisation is imposed on us.

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Honouring OHS Contribution While Agriculture Remains Deadly

Occupational health and safety in Australia continues to have a low political and commercial profile, but that does not deny that we have significant OHS contributors. At a recent awards ceremony, WorkSafe Victoria recognised Tracey Browne (pictured above) for her contribution to OHS.

But other speeches raised other interesting OHS issues, especially regarding farm safety.

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The Work‑From‑Home Debate Needs Less Theatre and More OHS

A recent radio forum on working from home reinforced the political motivation behind promoting it as a legal right and also highlighted the knowledge gaps we have about it. Occupational health and safety (OHS) was mentioned in the discussion, but its core significance was again downplayed.

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What the new push for Australian values means for work

Every company seems to have a Mission Statement, a Values Statement, or something similar that all employees are expected to follow and comply with. Largely, these are aspirational statements, but they are sometimes invoked when/if an employee needs to be disciplined or dismissed. The values are often vague and lend themselves to various interpretations, even though compliance is expected and is usually part of the employment contract.

At the moment, some conservative politicians, such as Angus Taylor, are emphasising the need for citizens and immigrants to commit to and comply with “Australian values”. How he plans to enforce them is unclear, but most of his proposed values have direct impacts on how occupational health and safety (OHS) is likely to be managed.

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Revisiting the Human Condition of Work: Why Dignity Still Sits at the Centre of Safety

Discussions about “the human condition” rarely make it into board papers or safety strategies, yet they sit underneath almost every modern workplace challenge. Whether we’re talking about psychosocial hazards, insecure work, presenteeism, or the slow cultural erosion that comes from constant restructuring, the through‑line is unmistakable: work is a profoundly human activity, and when we forget that, harm follows.

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Queensland’s Burnout Problem Is Political Not Clinical

Queensland doctors face an increased risk of burnout, but details have not been shared.

Several Australian media outlets reported on some survey results provided by Queensland Health, such as:

““One of the key results was that 49 per cent of clinicians surveyed met the threshold for risk of burnout, with burnout risk higher in rural and regional areas compared to metro areas.”

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