Category: hazards

Addressing Psychosocial Hazards at Work: New Incident Notification Reforms

On the afternoon of Friday, August 1, 2024, Safe Work Australia (SWA) announced important changes to the incident notification obligations in Australia’s Model Work Health and Safety laws. These changes are particularly relevant to the issues of psychological harm in workplaces and work-related suicides. I asked SWA for some clarifications on the changes and the promised guidance.

Below are the questions that I submitted to Safe Work Australia and CEO Marie Boland‘s responses.

Warning: this article discusses suicide

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Psychological health and safety book seems dated

There is a new book about psychological safety for organisations. Many have been published over the last twenty years, but the climate, at least, in Australia has changed. Psychological safety is now part of a broader and more inclusive concept – Psychosocial Safety – but many psychologists have not yet caught up, or are in denial or are too embedded in their established services to be able to or willing to change.

Any new book on psychological safety in workplaces needs to be contemporary and reflect these changes. Gina Battye‘s “The Authentic Organisation—How to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace” is not quite there.

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Sick leave entitlements miss the OHS justification

Australia is currently in the Winter season of sniffles, colds, and influenza, which generates illness and workplace absences. In the northern hemisphere, excessive heat may be causing a similar level of workplace absences. A recent article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation discussed workplace absences due to illness.

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Trenching deaths and radio report

I am a fan of NPR’s radio program, All Things Considered. Occasionally, it reports on workplace health and safety matters. On July 19, 2024, it reported on the unacceptable number of deaths from trenching activities in the United States. The content was shocking and disappointing (the default setting for many reactions to occupational health and safety (OHS) matters), but the report’s format is an excellent example of journalism.

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The right to disconnect is really a right to refuse to respond

While watching Maddocks’ recent webinar on the Right-to-Disconnect for its local council clients, I was reminded of a comment from one of Maddocks’ competitors, Steve Bell, of Herbert Smith Freehills in a seminar earlier this year (paraphrased):

“This is less a right to disconnect as a right to refuse to respond”.

The webinar summarised three contexts for the new Right-to-Disconnect laws – Industrial Relations, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Governance.

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Yes, No or N/A?

Recently, SafeWorkNSW launched a health and safety campaign for those who provide services in people’s homes, essentially Home Care providers.  The message is good and simple, but this article is less about the campaign than the risk assessment and checklist forms they promote.

Many checklists expect a Yes/No answer but fail to ask a question.  SafeWorkNSW’s Home Safety Risk Assessment is an example of this problem.

Continue reading “Yes, No or N/A?”

Keep away from Leadership and start to progress

Lately I have been thinking a lot about Leadership and how it dominates, and unchallenged, how occupational health and safety is managed in Australia. Of the three OHS/business books I bought this week, one included a page about Leadership and how we should move away from it.

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