Category: media

Multiple sources of OHS info are vital for safety lessons

Last week a 48-year-0ld glazier, Darin Johnson, died after he fell 18 metres from an aerial work platform (AWP) in Melbourne Australia.  Johnson’s death attracted more media attention than other workplace fatalities because of where he died.

The Australian newspaper has been running a political campaign against the Labour government over its stimulus package of school facilities construction.  Johnson died on a primary school construction site.

The Australian emphasised the location of the death and chose to emphasise union comments that builders in the school building program cut costs.   Continue reading “Multiple sources of OHS info are vital for safety lessons”

Confusion over bullying and sexual discrimination on display in air traffic controller media reports

The Australian media is providing considerable coverage to the legal claim by two female workers against Airservices Australia over bullying and sexual discrimination.  Airservices Australia is a government organisation that control aircraft movement over Australian airspace.

The details of the harassment mentioned in the media are quite offensive and have no place in the modern workplace.

There are a couple of OHS related issues that pertain to the legal action and the media articles.  Firstly, the media struggles to differentiate between sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying.  Bullying has the most direct relationship to occupational health and safety but the others generate stress in the workplace and therefore the impacts, if not the actions, fall within the OHS purview.  The Australian Financial Review (AFR) (page 7, not available online) has a headline “Flight controllers sue for sexual discrimination” yet the article reports on bullying.   Continue reading “Confusion over bullying and sexual discrimination on display in air traffic controller media reports”

OHS Professional magazine is a mish-mash

The Safety Institute of Australia‘s OHS Professional magazine has been out for a couple of editions now and the good news is that it is improving.  The sad part is that it remains well-behind other OHS magazines.

The latest edition has contributions, finally, from a freelance writer, Liam Tung.  Liam is not an OHS professional, to my knowledge, and this shows a little in some of the generalized elements of his articles.  But the articles are at least original content and this addresses a repeated criticism of the magazine.

The SIA runs many OHS conferences but very rarely ever see these as sources of content.  The current edition of OHS Professional comes with a supplement of some article from the 2010 Safety In Action Conference.  It is a good souvenir of the conference but is very thin. Continue reading “OHS Professional magazine is a mish-mash”

Oil rig workers speak about BP/Deepwater incident

The worker impact of the BP/Deepwater incident in the Gulf Of Mexico has finally been provide a mainstream media airing in 60 Minutes.  Workers Comp Insider blog provides some commentary and embedded video of the show.

It is a curiosity of American television that everything is open for discussion even though an official inquiry is underway.  This may be to do with the fascination of all things television but may also be reflective of a country whose legal structure allows for greater and more immediate self-analysis than the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth colleagues.

From the information available about the events preceding the disaster and immediately after, there was an increased production pressure on the oil rig’s workers.  There was some confusion on the authority for decision-making on process matters.  Emergency procedures were not well-developed or the practicalities anticipated.

Clearly there were flaws in the safety management system regardless of any design issues.  The governmental inquiry will be able to provide a much more detailed and dispassionate report of these events but it is clear that at this one oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, safety management was not clearly understood or applied by workers at the frontline.

The world is looking forward to the “big picture” report.

More OHS charges laid over insulation installer deaths

The OHS investigation process into the deaths of installers of insulation in Australia has led to charges being laid against Arrow Property Maintenance Pty Ltd.

On 28 June 2010, Queensland’s Department of Justice and Attorney-General has charged the company with breaches of both the  Electrical Safety Act 2002 and the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 following an extensive investigation into the fatal electrocution of a 16-year-old teenage insulation installer in Stanwell in 2009.

The charges relate to unsafe electrical work and unsafely working at height during the installation of fibreglass insulation.

Interestingly the Department has also mentioned in its media release (not yet available online) a separate prosecution under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 that is strengthened by it also being an

“… alleged breach of a Ministerial Notice issued on 1 November 2009 Continue reading “More OHS charges laid over insulation installer deaths”

Freelance writing services

The SafetyAtWorkBlog is establishing its presence as an important independent media service about safety issues.  There were 18,000 readers in May 2010, the same month the 1,000th article was uploaded.  But all of this is self-funded from ancillary consulting and writing work generated through the blog and more funding is required.

So if you have need for professional writing, editing or publishing services contact the Editor, Kevin Jones on 61 (0)3 9018 5401 or by email.

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”

© Workplace Safety Services P/L (ABN: 68091088621) and SafetyAtWorkBlog, 2008-2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Jones and SafetyAtWorkBlog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Concatenate Web Development
© Designed and developed by Concatenate Aust Pty Ltd