New class action on sexual abuse in Australian mining

Many of the prominent Australian mining companies are in the process of changing their cultures to minimise the risk of sexual assaults and harassment after several recent damning inquiries into worker health and safety. Everyone seems to agree that cultural change can take a long time. I am not convinced.  Change will take time if one operates within the existing organisational and operational parameters and structures. But sometimes, the harm to workers is so great that a long time exacerbates unfairness and injustice.

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Red flags for OHS misunderstandings

Occupational health and safety (OHS) continues to have a credibility problem and a poor social profile. Some of this is due to OHS peddling nonsense, but probably no more than any other discipline. Some of it is due to employers and other corporate leaders using OHS as camouflage for inaction or as a distraction from a different workplace issue. Some of it is due to ignorance.

It is up to all of us to strengthen the discipline’s credibility. To help with this, here are three words commonly used by leaders that we need to question and challenge whenever they are used.

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What should Victoria’s new WorkSafe Minister do now?

The Victoria Premier, Jacinta Allan, reshuffled her Cabinet and recently allocated responsibility for the Workcover and Transport Accident Commission portfolios to Deputy Premier Ben Carroll. This may be the first time a politician of that position has been given these portfolios. But what should Ben Carroll do now?

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Why buy a dog and bark yourself?

Effectiveness is critical in assessing one’s occupational health and safety (OHS) management system. One must be sure that the system works and to repair or improve that system when a deficiency is identified. We must create and maintain a safe system of work, and we must trust it and respect it.

So why do we feel the need to remind our colleagues of their OHS obligations, which the system has already educated them about? Indeed, they are grown-ups who know what they need to do and appreciate the importance of their own safety and the safety of their teams. Part of growing up is learning from one’s mistakes by experiencing the consequences of one’s decisions and actions. A large part of OHS management is keeping people from harm and recognising and accepting that people are integral to the management system.

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Curious workers’ compensation claim

Recently, it was revealed that a senior leader of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), John Setka, has lodged a workers’ compensation claim alleging post-traumatic stress disorder related to his work. Setka (pictured above second from the left) is a controversial trade union and political figure, especially in Victoria, and anyone can lodge a worker’s compensation claim. However, the media reporting identifies some curious factors to this claim.

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Latest OHS News from Herbert Smith Freehills

One of the most important sources of information about occupational health and safety (OHS) is seminars organised by law firms. A great example was a webinar hosted by Herbert Smith Freehills on October 30, 2024, as part of its Safety Leadership Series. It was a general discussion on Australia’s most prominent OHS issues but outlined increasingly significant consequences.

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How bad must it have been?

The corporate cultures of Australia’s mining industry have been under substantial scrutiny for over a decade. Sexual harassment, bullying, work-related suicides and more psychosocial hazards have been identified with strategies introduced to address the cultures that contribute to these occupational harms.

On 20 November 2024, Rio Tinto released a progress survey on its cultural change initiatives, which the Australian Financial Review (AFR) described as showing a “backlash” to these reforms. This survey is a significant document for those on similar journeys and for occupational health and safety (OHS) advocates.

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