On Sunday 23 May 2016, Queen’s Counsel Ross Ray died after being pinned under a rolled over quad bike on his Victorian hobby farm. According to one early media report, he was not wearing a helmet nor was his quad bike fitted with a crush protection device (CPD). In the past he has represented quad bike manufacturers who object to devices that can protect this type of incident. If the report is true, his death appears ironic but Ross Ray was involved in a lot more occupational health and safety cases than just quad bikes. Continue reading “Irony in tragedy masks an interesting legal career”
Category: law
Free safety conference was more valuable than many other, more expensive ones
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Breakfast seminar provides OHS tidbits
In May 2016, the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) held their annual safety breakfast. The speakers were the usual blend of WorkSafe representative, SIA, Herbert Smith Freehills and remuneration survey results but there is always bits of useful information for the old hands and a lot of information for new entrants in the occupational health and safety profession. Continue reading “Breakfast seminar provides OHS tidbits”
Workplace Bullying needs a broad and integrated approach
Recently, through LinkedIn, a Human Resources (HR) professional wrote an article that busted some myths about workplace bullying. It is a useful article but also illustrates that HR and occupational health and safety (OHS) still have some way to go before providing a coordinated approach to workplace bullying and the mental health issues that contribute to the psychosocial hazard.
Continue reading “Workplace Bullying needs a broad and integrated approach”
Two ABC radio broadcasts on OHS
Dolly Parton sang about working 9 to 5, asked “what a way to make a living” and asserted that it would drive you crazy if you let it. Many workers would look on a shift of only 9 to 5 as a luxury. ABC Radio in Brisbane played this song as an introduction to a series of radio interviews about workplace safety in which myself and Professor Niki Ellis participated on 9 May 2016.
Curiously the interview, part of their The Juggle series, occurs in the Drive time slot of 4pm to 6pm but the discussion was almost all about occupational health and safety (OHS) in the office environment. If 9 to 5 still exists anywhere, the audience for office safety information was busy. It would have been interesting to talk about OHS and work vehicles. Continue reading “Two ABC radio broadcasts on OHS”
OHS consultant guilty of impersonating a SafeWork SA inspector
There are several important lessons from a recent conviction of an occupational health and safety consultant (OHS) in South Australia for impersonating a SafeWork SA inspector on multiple occasions.
According to SafeWorkSA’s media release, Sam Narroway has been found guilty of impersonating a SafeWork South Australia Inspector and fined $A15,000. Presiding Industrial Magistrate Lieschke stated that
“In my view these are serious offences – they involved risk to the community, damage to the credibility of SafeWork SA and to professional work health safety consultants”.
According to LinkedIn and as acknowledged in the Court judgement, Sam Narroway is now the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Workplace Safety Group. Narroway has described this new company as a successful venture and indications are that he intends to restart his career.
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Gerry Ayers on International Workers Memorial Day
On the evening of 28 April 2016, (Australian time), Professor Mike Behm of North Carolina, Ciaran McAleenan in Ireland and others coordinated an online discussion about the importance of International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD). Dr Gerry Ayers was scheduled to participate but was beaten by technical problems. However he shared his thoughts about the memorial and has allowed SafetyAtWorkBlog to reproduce his thoughts. These are included below: Continue reading “Gerry Ayers on International Workers Memorial Day”