Category: evidence

A hopeful book about suicide and mental health

John Brogden‘s book Profiles in Hope sounds like it is about suicide, but it is about much more than that.  His interviews with a broad group of Australians, some very prominent, say a lot about growing up, anxiety, depression, distress, trauma and, sometimes, suicide, but it is primarily about hope.

This is not a book about personal enlightenment or personal resilience, although some interviews touch on these issues. Thankfully, this book is not a wellness tome masquerading as marketing for soy candles, essential oils, corporate gullibility, and overpriced wilderness retreats. Though there is enlightenment, several interviews confront the reader.

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”take safety seriously”

Tasmanian politicians recently discussed Industrial Manslaughter laws in Parliament. As with similar debates in other jurisdictions, occupational health and safety (OHS) appears to justify these amendments, but the OHS principle of preventing harm is rarely discussed. Deterrence? Yes, but Prevention? Not really.

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Trust your gut

Recently, a former occupational health and safety (OHS) official from SouthEast Asia told me a story about how his “gut” gave him a feeling about employers and companies that did not have a genuine commitment to improving the safety and health of their workers. OHS needs evidence-based decisions, but after a few years, that evidence and experience can become internalised so one’s “gut feeling” can provide a compelling clue about workplace safety culture.

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Veterans, Suicide, Culture and Crompvoets

For many years, occupational health and safety (OHS) has been fixated on “Culture” as an encompassing term for what management activity does not work and what does. The focus has faded slightly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Culture made an important reappearance this week with the delivery of the final report of Australia’s Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. However, some of the most telling analyses of the safety culture in the Australian Defence Forces occurred in 2021 with the work of Samantha Crompvoets.

NOTE: this article discusses suicides

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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?

Continue reading ““How can I make my workers safer?””

“…the system isn’t broken. It was built this way” – Grenfell Tower and OHS

The inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower fire has yet to be seriously considered from the other side of the world. However, the report is being mentioned in Australia’s emergency services and fire sectors.  The inquiry has been thoroughly followed and analysed in the United Kingdom, and many excellent summaries have been published in newspapers, books, and podcasts. Australia’s cladding debate has not been to the same extent as the UK. Still, the UK’s structures, policies, processes, business ethics and neglect are certainly mirrored in Australia, which directly impacts how workplace health and safety operates here.

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To understand Safety, one must understand Work

To understand occupational health and safety (OHS), you must understand the broader topic of work. Work is not necessarily more complex than OHS, but there are more opportunities to be distracted.

Earlier this year, Andrea Komlosy‘s excellent analysis of work—”Work—The last 1,000 years“—was published in English for the first time. The book hardly discusses OHS, but Komlosy’s feminist and European perspective is refreshing after reading narrow and insular analyses from the United States.

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