Category: politics

Australia’s national safety award winners

This evening in Canberra, Safe Work Australia announced the winners of the 5th Annual Safe Work Australia Awards. The profiles below are provided by Safe Work Australia.

The winners are:

Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System – Private Sector

GHD, South Australia

“GHD South Australia uses an electronic workplace health and safety management system accessible to all employees and has a workflow element to ensure that the necessary safety analysis and reporting is undertaken for all projects. Continue reading “Australia’s national safety award winners”

Unionists express anger at Australia’s approach to OHS on Workers’ Memorial Day

Some days, politics should be kept in the background.  Increasingly the International Day of Mourning is being used as a political platform, principally by the union movement.  But this is discomforting and a little like anti-war protests during ANZAC Day, as happened several decades ago.

International Day of Mourning, or Workers’ Memorial Day, as it is also known, should be a time of reflection.  There is no doubt that there is a political element to wortkplace safety and the deaths of workers but it is hard to remember the dead, look at the memorials and the floral tributes when a tannoy is shouting to a unon protest rally.

This was part of the scene outside the Trades Hall in Melbourne on 28 April 2010.  Thousands of construction workers used the memorial as the starting point for a march to the offices of the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Continue reading “Unionists express anger at Australia’s approach to OHS on Workers’ Memorial Day”

ACTU industrial officer is new WorkSafe executive

SafetyAtWorkBlog has been informed that Cath Bowtell has been appointed the new executive director of WorkSafe Victoria.  Bowtell’s name may be familiar to some Australians due to her recent contest to be the next President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

Cath Bowtell is due to take on the position in the middle of 2010. Continue reading “ACTU industrial officer is new WorkSafe executive”

Too big to be held accountable?

Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers union has issued a media statement in support of the International Day of Mourning in which he says the Government is scared of BHP Billiton.

“Politicians – of all political shades – are just too scared to stand up to BHP-Billiton and tell them that in a safe work place people should come before profits”

The statement goes on to itemise the benefits of a unionised workplace and many of the comments will be familiar to readers and OHS professionals but what Howes statement implies is that not only is profitability given a higher priority than safety by the company but that the Australian Government is putting economic growth before corporate accountability for safety. Continue reading “Too big to be held accountable?”

“For the government, safety has always been the number one priority” – Really?

On 27 April 2010, less than 24 hours after a highly critical television program was broadcast about his government’s mismanagement of its insulation rebate scheme, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the families of the men who died while installing roof insulation.

“Certainly, when it comes to the Fuller family, I, together with other ministers of the government, are deeply sorry for what has occurred as it affects their loved ones and nothing, no action, actually brings those loved ones back,…”

There was a political imperative for the apology as the program reported that he met with one family and at the time expressed no regret.  But in the context of this blog’s subject area, Rudd has said something that should kill corporate safety pledges.   Continue reading ““For the government, safety has always been the number one priority” – Really?”

Queensland workers’ compensation reforms – is the good news really that good?

Queensland’s Premier, Anna Bligh, and Attorney-General, Cameron Dick have issued a curious media statement concerning their reform of the State’s workers’ compensation system.

The reform is intended “to ensure stability and certainty into the future” and “ensure that the Queensland average premium rate, while increasing, will remain the lowest of any state or territory.”

The Premier is saying the right message but the reality may be a little different.   Continue reading “Queensland workers’ compensation reforms – is the good news really that good?”

2010 International Day of Mourning

Tomorrow, 28 April 2010, is the International Day of Mourning, a remembrance  day for those who have died at work.  In Australia most of the focus will be on the memorial event in Sydney as the majority of trade union leaders are in the city for the ACTU Organising Conference.  This has the potential to leave events in other capital cities muted as second string trade union leaders are likely to host events.

Tasmania’s trade union movement has chosen to replace a fixed geographic event with a mini-event in workplaces.  Its poster is on the right.  Workers are encouraged to

  • “Wear a wristband as a sign of respect to those who have died at work
  • Hold a minute’s silence in remembrance”

A list of Workers’ Memorial Day events in Australia is available through the ACTU website. Continue reading “2010 International Day of Mourning”

© Workplace Safety Services P/L (ABN: 68091088621) and SafetyAtWorkBlog, 2008-2026. 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