Category: government

When information supply is NOT consultation

In Australia there is a purposely created commonality between the developing OHS law and industrial relations law on certain issues.  Consultation is one of those matters and, although a decision by the Federal Court of Australia on 11 June 2010 relates to the Fair Work Act, safety professionals and business owners should take note.

On 22 June 2010, Justice John Logan fined Queensland Rail $A660,000 for not consulting its workforce on the company’s privatization plan which would have affected employees’ jobs. (An ABC podcast of the matter is available online)  One media report paraphrased Justice Logan:

“[he]told the court that workers were never given the opportunity to discuss if they would be moved into the new private business, how the privatisation would occur, or if they wanted privatisation in the first place.”

The most pertinent comments from 11 June 2010 judgement by Justice Logan are also quoted in various media reports:

“This change so radical, a breach so comprehensive, the occasion for consultation so obvious that anything less than maximum penalties would not do justice to the case and the need to ensure public confidence in the adherence to industrial relations bargains.”

The Australian quotes Justice Logan as saying

“Benign dictatorship is not to be equated with consultation…” Continue reading “When information supply is NOT consultation”

CSB agrees to investigate the root cause of the BP Deepwater disaster

The chairman of the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), John Bresland, has formally announced his organisation’s investigation into the BP/Deepwater oil rig disaster.  The experience and professionalism of the CSB is evident in correspondence to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce where the scope is defined and additional resources anticipated.

The letter identifies those current investigations that may need wrapping up quickly so that resources can be diverted to the BP/Deepwater investigation.  This honesty has the advantage of reinforcing that the CSB  is begin called on to undertake tasks beyond its resource allocation and is clearly an opening pitch for the next funding season, as a chairman should do. Continue reading “CSB agrees to investigate the root cause of the BP Deepwater disaster”

New Zealand farm advocates talk briefly on quad bike safety

New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has released some statistics on quad bike incidents in support of its attendance at field days in mid-June 2010 and the release of three new agricultural safety publications.  The media release quotes research from the Otago University.

“Three farmers or agricultural workers died and nearly 300 were injured in quad bike accidents on farms last year, according to ACC claims figures.

Recent research from Otago University forecast that in any given year farm workers will lose control of quad bikes on approximately 12,645 occasions, resulting in about 1400 injuries.  Not all of these will be registered as workplace injury claims with ACC.”

The risk of jumping to conclusions from these statistics is that the ACC is not only concerned with workplace incidents and hence the conditional sentence at the end of the quote. Continue reading “New Zealand farm advocates talk briefly on quad bike safety”

BBC podcast on UK’s OHS review

The BBC’s radio program, Politics UK, for 18 June 2010 includes an uncredited discussion on the OHS review announced by Prime Minister Cameron recently.  The discussion occurs at the 20 minute mark of the podcast which is available to download for a short time.

Much of the content seems to reflect the thoughts and comments of The Telegraph article by Philip Johnston but at least the BBC reporter acknowledges that the issue is not really health and safety but the “fear of litigation”.

There is an interesting reference to the “goldplating” of European Union directions and the issue of food safety and cheese is mentioned.  The impression given is that the more significant and, perhaps, the more difficult challenge for Lord Young is not OHS but the “compensation culture”.  If this is the case, OHS may come off the worse of the two as it may be given a secondary priority.

Kevin Jones

Prominent OHS regulator addresses ASSE conference

The Gulf of Mexico disaster has dominated American media but in mid-June 2010, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, David Michaels, spoke to the national conference of the American Society of Safety Engineers.  The full video of Michaels address is available online at http://vimeo.com/12591365 (Other safety associations should take note of this conference openness)

In his speech, Michaels talks about the poor application of safety incentives as well as a range of other related issues.

SafetyAtWorkBlog will include more reports on this conference later in the week.

Kevin Jones

Montara oil spill report will provide clues for handling BP inquiry

The Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea that lasted for three months in late 2009 was large but affected no countries directly and is certainly a long way from the Gulf of Mexico and BP.  However there are enough similarities for considerable media attention to be focused on the investigative report into the incident that was handed to the Australian Government on 17 June 2010.

The Australian Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, acknowledged the receipt of the commission of inquiry’s final report but will not be releasing it yet.

Greens Senator Rachel Seiwert has said:

“The release of all information available to date is essential for the development of new regulatory and environmental procedures….  We need to be better prepared to respond to future disasters in our precious marine environment.”

Seiwert has at least acknowledged the global context of the report:

“Halliburton is reported to have carried out cementing work on both the Montara well and the US Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. The failure of this cementing has been linked in the media to both spills.”

Speculation is that the report will recommend a “single national regulator for off-shore drilling” according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on 19 June 2010 (p5. not available online).   Continue reading “Montara oil spill report will provide clues for handling BP inquiry”

UK to see similar OHS review to Australia’s

England seems set to have the same debate over OHS laws as Australia has been having recently – a debate that focuses on compliance rather than the establishment of a safe workplace.

UK business groups clearly see Lord Young of Graffham as being like-minded.  On 15 June 2010 Adam Marshall,  Director of Policy and External Affairs of the British Chamber of Commerce is reported to have said:

“While it’s absolutely crucial for employers to take steps to ensure people are safe in the workplace, the proliferation of health and safety rules has resulted in more bureaucracy and less common sense… Lord Young should look to reduce the number of health and safety processes and costs businesses have to face”.

Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses said :

“Our members want the Government to think small first so that health and safety laws stick with small employers, so that they can comply”.

Big business want safety to cost less, small business want to comply – same attitudes as in Australia.   Continue reading “UK to see similar OHS review to Australia’s”

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