government – SafetyAtWorkBlog

If Ben Carroll Wants to Show he is a new Leader, OHS Reform Could Help

So Ben Carroll is the new Premier of Victoria. He has made the obvious and unavoidable decision to call for a Royal Commission into that state’s construction sector and the government’s “Big Build” project. But Carroll was also the Minister for WorkCover for several years. He spoke at safety awards nights, conferences, seminars and Workers’ Memorial events. At those events, he made several clear statements about the importance of occupational health and safety (OHS).

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Farm Safety Messaging Works Best When It Confronts Risk Honestly

Every year, Australia conducts a Farm Safety Week. The latest has just closed. Every year, the safety information is fundamentally the same: deaths, serious injuries, tractors or quad bikes, middle- to old-aged workers, mental health, the protection of children and more. But there are a couple of interesting variations this year from WorkSafe Victoria.

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Why Some Bosses Fight Working From Home Harder Than the Evidence

Australian business media, especially the Australian Financial Review (AFR), continues to oppose the Victorian (Labor) government’s intention to make working from home (WFH) a formal right and entitlement. Every week, the mainstream media report on the latest research that criticises the move on the basis of productivity impacts, restrictions on career progress and other business negatives; occasionally, very occasionally, some positives are reported – better mental health, reduced living and commuter costs, flexibility for family duties and obligations.

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Brodie’s Law, national inquiries and the confusion over prevention

Brodie Panlock’s death did not lead to just one law change, or one policy response or one neat public conclusion. It led to several overlapping reactions such as OHS prosecution, political campaigning, criminal law reform, a parliamentary inquiry, media campaigns, union submissions, employer resistance, and a long-running argument about whether workplace bullying should be treated as a discrete hazard or as part of the broader family of psychosocial risks. That complexity has often been mistaken for progress.

Please note that this article discusses suicide and mental trauma.

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Political Reform Keeps Ignoring OHS Even When It Could Strengthen It

OHS remains invisible in political debate unless people die. Politicians will talk about productivity, investment, innovation and community renewal, but they rarely talk about preventing workers from being killed, injured or psychologically harmed. When OHS does appear, it is usually framed as a cost burden rather than a social benefit. Yet every political promise about fairness, renewal, or community well-being carries an implied OHS benefit if anyone bothers to look.

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Maximum Workplace Temperatures: A Political Fix Searching for an OHS Problem

The United Kingdom and Europe are again struggling through dangerous summer heat. In Australia, it’s tempting to feel a little smug. We’ve spent decades adapting our houses, cities and work practices to heat: wide‑brimmed hats in schools, backyard pools, ventilation, shade, job rotation, and a long list of practical controls that employers and regulators understand well. None of this makes heat safe, but it does make working in excessive heat manageable.

Into this UK heatwave steps Greens MP Hannah Spencer, proposing a Private Member’s Bill to establish a maximum workplace temperature.

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Redesigning Risk — Quinlan and Mazzucato Unite to Make Work Safer

Whenever Mariana Mazzucato publishes a new book, she appears in the press everywhere as part of book tours and promotions. Her latest book, The Common Good Economy, is likely to be as influential on government and international policymakers as her other books have been. Australia’s Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, pays close attention to her perspectives. These perspectives relate to the management of occupational health and safety (OHS) because they present a different or tweaked sense of corporate morality, under which workers should be safe and healthy.

This article is not a review of the Common Good Economy book, although it is very good. Instead, I compare Mazzucato’s approach on work to Professor Michael Quinlan‘s take on precarity.

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