Ian Watson is an Australian safety professional who also draws cartoons. His warped perspective on workplace safety is refreshing and his cartooning style is plain, almost “naive”.
He produces cartoons under the moniker of Unsafe! and one of his cartoons is below.
On 23 March 2010, SafetyAtWorkBlog questioned the need for so many government-sanctioned OHS awards and noted that there is little overlap between wellness awards and safety awards.
On 26 March 2010, Australia’s Safety Rehabilitiation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) announced a new category in its OHS awards that will
“recognise organisations that promote health and wellbeing in the workplace–long before employees are affected by injury.”
The SRCC is the organisation that looks after the OHS of
“the federal public service, the Australian Defence Force and national companies in the Comcare scheme.”
With the addition of this new category, the SRCC finally has awards that represent the continuum of worker health and safety from prevention to incident to rehabilitation or compensation. Continue reading “How many safety awards are too many?”
Australia seems to have more OHS conference now than ever before. The growth in annual conferences seems odd in a country with such a small comparative population but perhaps because the population is spread so much and there is such a strong resource sector, perhaps it is understandable.
SafetyAtWorkBlog put some questions about the phenomenon to Marie Kinsella, the Managing Director of Australian Exhibitions & Conferences, a major provider of these conferences and trade exhibitions in Australia. Some of her responses are below.
Has the recent global finance crisis made it more difficult for AEC to attract stallholders?
“The shows’ exhibitors have not been immune from the GFC, particularly those with international head offices, Continue reading “OHS exhibitions in Australia”
SafetyAtWorkBlog has learnt that the national harmonisation process for workers’ compensation has formally begun with one of the first meetings being scheduled in Melbourne at the end of March 2010 and organised by Safe Work Australia. The two-day meeting is invitation only and invitations have been sent to relevant stakeholders – insurers, rehabilitation, providers, unions…… The meeting is almost an introduction to the reform process but could provide a clear indication of the tensions and challenges for this program in the future.
Workers compensation issues in South Australia have been receiving considerable coverage in SafetyAtWorkBlog over the last few weeks. The bigger picture in the complaints that the Australian Government has committed to a program of national harmonisation of workers’ compensation schemes, currently administered separate by each State. This process is a bigger challenge than harmonising workplace safety laws and may be bigger than the reintroduction of a more worker-friendly industrial relations system.
The ABC News bulletin (video available) in Melbourne on 17 March 2010 ran a lead story about doctors’ reluctance to treat injured workers Continue reading “Harmonisation of Australia’s workers’ compensation system begins”
In December 2009, SafetyAtWorkBlog reported the comments by the English Conservative leader, David Cameron, on some concerns he had about the direction of occupational health and safety in England and how the newspapers were reporting OHS.
On 15 March 2010, The Independent published an article by the CEO of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), Rob Strange. [IOSH says it is a personal opinion piece] Strange’s article is not a rebuttal of Cameron’s speech but is an important statement in the dialogue, or debate, that must occur if workplace safety is ever going to be treated with respect.
Strange must deal with the notorious English tabloid press and some of his article shows that no matter what relationship one may wish to have with a journalist, there is no guarantee that the journalist or editor will run your perspective, argument or rebuttal. His struggle shows how important it is to establish a respectful relationship with the media producers. His example should be followed by safety professional associations elsewhere. Continue reading “The OHS profession in Australia needs a saviour. Has anyone got one spare?”
In 2007, Pedro Balading fell off the back of a utility vehicle while working in remote outback Australia and died. On 16 March 2010, the owner of the Wollogorang cattle station, Panoy P/L, was fined $A60,000 over the death.
According to one media report:
“Pedro Balading, a 35-year-old father of three, was a Manila piggeries supervisor who arrived at Wollogorang Station in early 2007 and found himself isolated, underpaid and performing menial jobs. He asked to go home but was told by his employer, Panoy Pty Ltd, and the labour hire firm that brought him from the Philippines to complete his two-year contract.”
Work Health Authority‘s executive director, Laurene Hull said in a media statement:
“The danger associated with travelling in the back of a moving utility, where the risk of falling from the moving vehicle can result in death or serious injury is common knowledge,” Ms Hull said. “Panoy Pty Ltd failed to take appropriate steps to ensure the hazard posed by travelling in the back of utilities was known to the workers and the risks appropriately managed.” Continue reading “The fatal consequences of riding in the tray of a pick-up or ute”
Through March 2010, WorkSafe Victoria is running a series of seminars on the issue of workplace bullying throughout Victoria. In support of the campaign, the OHS regulator has a series of ads in the newspapers (pictured below left)
Cheekily the Community & Public Sector Union has “piggybacked” on the promotional campaign emphasising that the Victorian Government is changing the law to make it more difficult to claim workers’ compensation Continue reading “Public sector union capitalises on WorkSafe bullying campaign”