Category: OHS

Governments could improve their OHS performance if they wanted

In 2019, the head of SafeWork South Australia, Martyn Campbell, told this blog that he agreed that government departments should be exemplars in occupational health and safety and that “we should be the pinnacle of safety professionalism and leadership”. It should not be a surprise to hear the head of an OHS regulatory agency claim this, but the origin of the question to Campbell stemmed from a review of Victoria’s OHS Act by Chris Maxwell QC in 2004.

Given the recent OHS-related scandals in various jurisdictions, which have often been related to the management of the coronavirus pandemic, it is worth reminding ourselves of the OHS performance standards that Maxwell advocated for all government departments and agencies.

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Wage theft needs more OHS analysis

Journalist Ben Schneiders has written an excellent book about wage theft in Australian businesses – where it came from, why it persists, and the inequality it generates through institutional and wilful exploitation. What is missing is a chapter, at least, on the occupational health and safety (OHS) contexts of this exploitation. OHS is touched on but is also missed when discussing some of the pay and working conditions.

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When exemplars are far from

Extensive multinational auditing and consulting firms have been hammered for the last few years over the potential conflict of both auditing and advising the same companies and a toxic workplace culture. Most companies will not be able to afford these consultants’ prices, but the conduct of the large companies, the “corporate leaders”, affects every business by setting the standards. The influence of these large companies over public (and work health and safety) policy should also be noted and is being reviewed by some governments.

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It looks like OHS does not matter to the government

One of Australia’s Budget documents, released this week, that should be very relevant to occupational health and safety (OHS) advocates is Budget Statement 4, which is called “Measuring What Matters Statement”.  This discusses the measurement of budget decisions compared to a tweaked version of the OECD Framework for Measuring Well-being and Progress.

One of the most disappointing statements in this paper is on page 138:

“Australia does not have an overarching progress and well-being national framework or centralised set of indicators.”

page 138
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Fascinating trend survey that is really a snapshot

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has released a fascinating report into occupational health and safety (OHS) trends in Australia. As with the survey report by the Australian Council of Trade Unions earlier this month, the results are far from representative of the Australian population. In fact, the ACCI report is based on only 86 respondents.

The small sample limits some of the conclusions made by ACCI’s Director WHS Policy, Jennifer Low, but regardless, the report provides some insight into the OHS priorities, concerns and OHS literacy of ACCI members.

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The good and the odd in Oz Minerals’ “Safety Stop”

Oz Minerals Managing Director Andrew Cole is reported in today’s Australian Financial Review (paywalled) saying:

“.. there had also been an ‘‘unacceptable’’ trend in workplace safety during the past three months at the mines, but he was confident the trend had stabilised.”

This is likely to have come from the company’s September 2022 Quarterly Report and webcast released yesterday.

The company’s one-day “stop” for safety consultation is admirable, but some of the discussion reported in other media implies that an older-style attitude to worker safety persists.

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Sacking may eliminate a hazard but allow toxic work cultures to persist

A Queensland inquiry into how Police respond to and handle domestic violence incidents has gained an occupational health and safety (OHS) context. According to The Guardian newspaper (paywalled).

“Employment law experts say the weak police discipline system and the ongoing employment of problematic officers have created “clear breaches of duty” under workplace health and safety laws, which require organisations to provide a safe environment for employees.”

Perhaps the article is more telling in the assumption that offending Police are unredeemable, with the only option being to sack them. OHS duties are meant to be supportive, but they also advocate that workplace hazards should be eliminated, as this is the most effective risk control measure.

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