media – Page 37 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Important OHS court decisions go unreported

On 20 May 2010 a Victorian magistrate fined an employer over $A500,000 following a workplace prosecution. Almost all of it went to charity, according to WorkSafe Victoria.

There are several issues raised by Magistrate Vandersteen’s decision:

Why to charity?
Why the particular charities?
Why not allocate the funds to OHS-related organisations or initiatives?
Why does the Magistrates’ Court not make court decisions publicly available?

The workplace incident that started this case was that in August 2008, a 40-year-old man had his arm ripped out of the socket when it became tangled in an unguarded post peeler. He was taken to hospital by an emergency ambulance helicopter where his life was saved. Continue reading “Important OHS court decisions go unreported”

Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia

Prominent OHS unionist, Yossi Berger*, has attempted to place the issue of quad bike safety in the greater context of OHS In the latest issue of the Australian Workers’ Union’s Say Safety magazine (only available in hard copy).

Berger says that the current debate between safety advocates and vehicle manufacturers over quad bikes is the latest illustration of a debate that leads nowhere while workers continue to be injured and killed.

A current debate in Australia about quad bike safety

“…unfortunately looks like following a similar pattern. The use of this machine kills hundreds of riders around the world every year, and in Australia – occupationally – about 15 every year, mostly in farming. It looks like the entire discussion (for improvement) is going to develop into another description of how not to achieve fundamental OHS improvements.” Continue reading “Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia”

Safety magazines in Australia

In Australia there are safety magazines and then there are safety magazines but which are the publications that are obligatory reading for safety professionals and practitioners?

National Safety magazine, published on behalf of the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA), has been the safety magazine of choice in Australia for many years. It has developed a degree of authority in the safety profession that is beyond the status of the NSCA.

The Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) has a publication principally distributed to its 3,000 members that, through several incarnations, has tried to establish some professional authority but is unlikely to match National Safety magazine. Continue reading “Safety magazines in Australia”

Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch

A regular SafetyAtWorkBlog reader emailed in a comment this morning that we believe is justified as including it as a post itself. The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster is out of the news outside of the United States but as the Australian reader shows below, there are important lessons from how this disaster occurred and its aftermath as there is in most disasters. What needs to occur is for the issues to continue to be discussed and lessons applied. Some links in the post below have been added.

“I’ve been following the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster West Virginia, in which 29 miners died from an explosion that occurred on 5 April 2010. It appears that the explosion occurred due to a build up of methane and coal dust in the mine. Records show that, in the weeks leading up to the explosion, some miners had expressed fears for their lives to their families. One left a note for his family. To my thinking it reads like a suicide note. Continue reading “Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch”

Communicating safety through new technologies

On 3 May 2010, I was privileged to be invited to be a plenary speaker at the 2010 conference of the New South Wales Minerals Council. My presentation was entitled “Some new ways of talking about safety online”. I discussed the use of some of the new online communication methods but ultimately came to the point that safety is most successfully communicated when the information is valid, relevant and delivered by someone trustworthy.

An extract of my presentation is below and an audio recording is available at the end. Please note that there are some swear words in the presentation.

“These new technologies are basically about communication and I am here to discuss how these technologies can be used to communicate safety information.

Two important elements are in that sentence – information and communication. Let me take information first because this is sometimes the overlooked element. Continue reading “Communicating safety through new technologies”

Mining safety conference is shadowed by taxation debate

As there was in the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, there is a third member in the relationship at the New South Wales Mining Council (NSWMC) conference that is being held in the Hunter Valley this week – the Government’s response to the Henry review into Australia’s taxation scheme.

The CEO of NSWMC, Dr Nikki Williams has been interviewed repeatedly at the conference with workplace safety being the opening line from reporters before asking about Henry. Only 24 hours after the release of the Government’s response very little detail can be expected from an interview. By lunchtime Williams’ responses were polished as she outlined the potentials – mine closures, economic damage to regional towns…… The reality of the taxation changes to the mining sector is not really going to be understood for several more days. Any direct impact on safety is highly unlikely.

Sadly safety is not getting much consideration in the media discussions however there are potentials in this conference that could extend well beyond the mining industry. Continue reading “Mining safety conference is shadowed by taxation debate”

Exploding restaurant kettle risks

WorkSafeBC is a regular provider of useful safety videos. In mid-April 2010 the regulator released a latest video that reports on an exploding soup kettle in a restaurant that injured several workers with steel shrapnel and steam.

Safety prevention videos are costly to produce properly and WorkSafeBC has followed a process that is informative and simple but providing a slide show with an audio commentary. This is a technique that makes use of the many incident photos that OHS investigators take without compromising the investigation and still offering a much more attractive and appealing safety alert. It is a technique that other OHS regulators should consider.

Kevin Jones

Category: media

Important OHS court decisions go unreported

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Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia

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Safety magazines in Australia

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Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch

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Communicating safety through new technologies

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Mining safety conference is shadowed by taxation debate

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Exploding restaurant kettle risks

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