A link to an article of sound ergonomic advice was emailed to SafetyAtWorkBlog in early April 2010 suggesting readers may be interested. The article is entitled “The Ultimate Guide to Ergonomics: 50 Tips & Tricks for Serious Students” and contains some good suggestions but it seems to be based on some assumptions that are not necessarily present in the real world of students. Continue reading “Good ergonomics advice but prevention should have been emphasised”
Category: OHS
Bullying cartoon
In 2002, Eric Quaadgras provided some cartoons for the SafetyAtWork magazine. One illustrated the issue of workplace bullying which I thought you may like.
Canadian research shows occupational link to breast cancer
“Certain occupational exposures appear to increase the risk of developing postmenopausal breast cancer”, is a conclusion reached by Canadian researchers and released in April 2010 edition of the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
The researchers acknowledged that “some findings might be due to chance or to undetected bias some findings might be due to chance or to undetected bias”, but there is enough evidence to generate concern in occupational sectors and, often, the media shows increased interest in breast cancer research.
Several Australian scientists have advised caution on interpreting the research findings. Continue reading “Canadian research shows occupational link to breast cancer”
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”
Psychosocial hazards are now, formally, occupational diseases
On 25 March 2010, the International Labour Organization released an updated list of occupational diseases. On the ILO website, it is stated that
“Mental and behavioural disorders have for the first time, been specifically included in the ILO list.”
All occupational diseases, including psychosocial hazards, had to satisfy the following criteria in order to be considered:
- “…that there is a causal relationship with a specific agent, exposure or work process;
- that they occur in connection with the work environment and/or in specific occupations;
- that they occur among the groups of workers concerned with a frequency which exceeds the average incidence within the rest of the population; and
- that there is scientific evidence of a clearly defined pattern of disease following exposure and plausibility of cause.”
The exact text from the revised List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation R194 is
“2.4. Mental and behavioural disorders
2.4.1. Post-traumatic stress disorder
2.4.2. Other mental or behavioural disorders not mentioned in the preceding item where a direct link is established scientifically, or determined by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice, between the exposure to risk factors arising from work activities and the mental and behavioural disorder(s) contracted by the worker”
What this means in practice is unclear and is likely to vary from country to country in relation to recognition of UN and ILO recommendations. What it does establish is that an international authoritative OHS body has acknowledged the existence of psychosocial hazards.
“The Eagle has landed” however there will remain some organisations who will always believe that occupational causes of psychosocial problems belong on the same sound-stage as the Apollo moon landings.
The first workers’ compensation harmonisation meeting a sham: unions
“The conference inside is a bit of a sham” claimed Brian Boyd, Victorian Trades Hall Secretary at the first meeting into the harmonisation of Australia’s workers compensation laws.
“It’s really another hidden agenda about trying to harmonise workers comp after we fully know already, they’ve messed up harmonisation of OHS.”
Continue reading “The first workers’ compensation harmonisation meeting a sham: unions”
Can OHS achieve “practical wisdom”?
Continuing SafetyAtWorkBlog’s belief that the best advice on workplace safety often comes from people outside the OHS discipline, Professor Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College was interviewed in the Australian Financial Review on 30 March 2010 (only available by subscription). Schwartz was talking about the social and regulatory impact of the global financial crisis but his take on the obeying of, and dominance of, rules seems equally applicable in OHS.
“Schwartz says the common response to crises…..is to reach for more regulation. But the problem is that these people who run these banks are smarter than any set of rules we can come up with. So what will happen is that [the rule] will work for a while, and then people will find a way to subvert them.”
He goes on:
“I think a lot of the trouble that we have is that you’ve got these people who run institutions, the CEOs, make speeches about how ethical they are and they may even mean it, but the people who are actually making the day-to-day decisions know that unless they make their targets, they are going to lose their jobs. Continue reading “Can OHS achieve “practical wisdom”?”