Category: executives

Another case study on a readily preventable work-related suicide

On August 29, 2019, Scott Jordan returned to his Ballarat home from work. He noticed his wife’s car was not parked in its usual location. Scott walked through to the shed looking for Karla Jordan and found her dead by suicide with a notebook on the floor nearby. The Victorian Coroner’s Prevention Unit “considered Ms Jordan’s workplace environment was the primary stressor in the lead up to her acute mental health decline and suicide”. The Coroner’s findings provide an important case study for examining psychosocial hazards in the workplace.

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Established OHS knowledge needs a boost

Workplace psychological health has been dominated by wellness advocates for several decades. Occupational health and safety (OHS) is seen by many as an interloper with “new” regulations that impose rules, expectations, notifications, and records on a corporate wellness sector that has been hugely influential on employers’ perspectives of mental health at work. This interjection by OHS “upstarts” does not stand up to examination. Social determinants of health have included work factors for many years. Richard G Wilkinson wrote about the psychosocial causes of illness in 1997, providing a helpful perspective applicable today.

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Narelle Beer’s OHS article should be the start of a deeper analysis

Recently former WorkSafe Victoria executive, Dr Narelle Beer, penned an article in LinkedIn called “Going to work should not kill you!” The article is a good introduction to occupational health and safety (OHS) but some important points are overlooked or unexplored.

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

All safety is political.  It always has been

My great uncle dug into coal mine tailings with his bare hands to try and rescue the school children and teachers buried during the Aberfan disaster.  His own grandchildren died.  Both of my grandfathers suffered from lives spent underground; they both died young, one from lung cancer and silicosis. 

For me, all safety is political.  It always has been.  It’s not party-political – but it can be.  It’s political in the sense that all decisions in every aspect of our lives are a function of power and authority. 

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Politics on display at safety awards night

WorkSafe Vcitoria’s annual awards night for 2024 was held last week. It was an unexceptional night, with around 400 in the audience, most of whom were award finalists and their colleagues. Although unexceptional, it was not dull, as the finalists’ stories were often compelling. However, the event needs a boost. Perhaps not to the flamboyance of earlier this century with over 1000 attendees and dancing into the night, as that would not be a good political look, but it needs something.

What was not notable was the politics of the evening.

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here

Another Executive leaves WorkSafe Victoria and new psychological regulations announced

For personal reasons, Joe Calafiore, Chief Executive Officer of WorkSafe Victoria, announced his departure today after less than eighteen months. Narelle Beer departed in mid-2024.

Calafiore said in a staff email that:

“This job is 100% or nothing, and at this stage I am unable to commit the full focus that the role requires.”

WorkSafe Victoria Chair Bob Cameron told staff:

Subscribe to SafetyAtWorkBlog to continue reading.
Subscribe Help
Already a member? Log in here
© Workplace Safety Services P/L (ABN: 68091088621) and SafetyAtWorkBlog, 2008-2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Jones and SafetyAtWorkBlog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Concatenate Web Development
© Designed and developed by Concatenate Aust Pty Ltd