hours of work – Page 17 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Employees’ OHS responsibility and working beyond the maximum hours

One of the most powerful motivators for behavioural change in workplaces is the legislative obligation on employees to not put themselves at risk of injury nor to act in such a way as to place others at risk.

Reported in the Australian media on 31 March 2010, Fair Work Australia has ruled that employees in the fruit-picking industry may volunteer for work beyond the standard 38-hour week without receiving penalty rates or overtime. The union movement is understandably concerned about how this financially disadvantages workers and how this ruling may spread beyond the fruit-picking industry.

The ruling allows fruit-pickers to choose to work beyond their regular shifts. Will they be able to work safely? Will they not be fatigued? Will they have sufficient daylight to undertake the tasks safely? Will there be sufficient downtime for workers to recover from a long work day and be fit for work? Could the workers’ choice to undertake additional fruit-picking tasks be a breach of their OHS obligations to look after their own safety, health and welfare?

The employees may choose to ignore their own occupational health for the sake of additional dollars but should they then be eligible for workers’ compensation if the effects of those longer hours are found to have contributed to an injury or illness? Continue reading “Employees’ OHS responsibility and working beyond the maximum hours”

Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?

There are several initiatives throughout the world under the banner of workplace health that have little relation to work. They are public health initiatives administered through the workplace with, often, a cursory reference to the health benefits also having a productivity benefit.

So is a fat worker less safe than a thin worker? Such a general question cannot be answered but it illustrates an assumption that is underpinning many of the workplace health initiatives. There is little doubt that workers with chronic health conditions take more leave but, in most circumstances, this leave is already accounted for in the business plan.

Sick leave is estimated at a certain level for all workers across a workplace and, sometimes, a nation. There is an entitlement for a certain amount of sick leave for all workers, fat and thin, “healthy” or “unhealthy”. It certainly does not mean that the entitlement will be taken every year but the capacity is there and businesses accommodate this in their planning and costs.

Remove this generic entitlement so that only working hours remain. Is a fat worker less productive than a thin worker? Is a worker without any ailments more productive than a person with a chronic ailment? Is a smoker more productive than a non-smoker or a diabetic or a paraplegic? Continue reading “Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?”

Is overwork part of the Australian Government’s project management difficulties?

On the Insiders television program on 21 February 2010, host Barrie Cassidy closed a long interview with the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy but asking about the workload of public servants in supporting government programs. The video is available on-line and the comments are at the 11 minute mark.

Conroy says that the “cracking pace” the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, established from the start of his government has continues. Rudd continues to expect high performance from his Ministers, staff and public servants. Conroy talks about the change that has been demanded of the public service and that this has generated more workload. He forecasts that the workload may ease if the Government achieves a second term of office.

Cassidy makes the link between the “pushing people too hard” and the failure of Government schemes such as the insulation scheme that was cancelled by the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett on 19 February 2010. Continue reading “Is overwork part of the Australian Government’s project management difficulties?”

Small business can equal depression, stress and mental health problems

According to an article in the Australian Financial Review on 16 February 2010 (only available online through subscription):

“The isolation of working at home or in a small shop or factory by themselves can wear down many in the small and medium enterprise sector. In the most severe cases, it can lead to depression and cause major problems for their family and business.”

Andrew Griffiths provides a quote that illustrates well the work/life conflict in the small business sector: Continue reading “Small business can equal depression, stress and mental health problems”

European OHS statistics show the way for other regions

On 19 January 2010 EuroFound began the fieldwork necessary for the next in its series of surveys of working conditions in Europe. According to the media release:

“Eurofound launches the fieldwork for the fifth European Working Conditions Survey, involving face-to-face interviews of workers in 34 European countries. This critical and timely research tracks the current state of working conditions in Europe, highlights the quality of work and employment, and monitors changing trends. The first findings of the survey will be presented at the end of 2010.”

The beginning of fieldwork is far less interesting than the end of the fieldwork but the announcement does remind us of the statistics that the organisation has been able to amass since 1991. Continue reading “European OHS statistics show the way for other regions”

Work/life balance needs to grow into sustainability

Just as government is reigning in the excesses of the financial sector over the last decade or so, there is a strong movement to pull back on the workload excesses. Some of this is through the work/life balance movement.

In terms of occupational health and safety, this movement has a strong base that is reflected in a lot of OHS legislation where individual employees have a responsibility to ensure they are working safely and not putting themselves at risk. This can be a very difficult obligation when one is working in an organisation that does not grant safety or mental health or its social obligations much weight.

Australia’s Go Home on Time Day

November 26 2009 was Go Home On Time Day in Australia. The intention of this day, organised by The Australia Institute, was to highlight the difficulty many workers face in a achieving this seemingly simple task. The Australia Institute’s expresses the aims this way:

The typical full-time employee is working 70 minutes of unpaid overtime a day, which equates to 33 eight-hour days per year, or six and a half standard working weeks.

Across the workforce, the 2.14 billion hours of unpaid overtime worked per year is a $72 billion gift to employers and means that 6% of our economy depends on free labour.

Converting unpaid overtime into full time jobs would create 1.1 million new jobs

Unpaid overtime harms our health, our personal relationships, our communities and our workplaces

The work/life balance advocates would say not doing unpaid overtime as a regular part of the job is an important balancing technique.

The Australia Institute has provided SafetyAtWorkBlog with some statistics from the special day’s 20,000 registered participants which may illustrate some of the difficulties of achieving that work/life balance.

Over 55% of registered participants managed to leave work at the contracted time on 26 November 2009. Of those who could not, almost 70% said they could not because they “had too much work to do”.

Of those who went home on time, these were the most common activities:

Spent time with family/played with kids
Exercised/went to the gym
Household jobs/chores
Caught up with friends
Walked the dog

Those who admitted to working unpaid overtime (1836) gave the following reasons

To get the work done	86.5%
Because my boss/employer expects it	28.8%
To help colleagues	23.1%
To ensure my job is safe/secure	21.6%
To demonstrate how hard I work	14.2%
Because everyone else does it	13.6%

There seems to be only one genuinely positive and collegiate reason, to help colleagues. The others indicate job and personal insecurity, unreasonable workloads or bad time management on behalf of employees and employers.

The statistics are of mostly curiosity value but are further indications of the social structural problems that contribute to increased work mental health risks. Of those who signed up but could not get away from work, a couple of reasons given were

Boss knew I was trying to go home on time and loaded me up.
Management laughed.
My Boss said I was not to say the words out loud.

These days are intended to raise awareness of specific issues in society and Go Home On Time Day is a worthwhile addition but as with Asbestos Awareness Week, at some point awareness must move to action.

Kevin Jones

Category: hours of work

Employees’ OHS responsibility and working beyond the maximum hours

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Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?

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Is overwork part of the Australian Government’s project management difficulties?

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Small business can equal depression, stress and mental health problems

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European OHS statistics show the way for other regions

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Work/life balance needs to grow into sustainability

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Australia’s Go Home on Time Day

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