Category: politics

Public sector union capitalises on WorkSafe bullying campaign

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”

Abuse, egos, corporate governance and the safety profession

On 15 March 2010, the National President of the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), Barry Silburn, distributed an email to the 3,600 SIA members strongly refuting the “unsubstantiated claims of irregularities” that were, apparently made by Gavin Waugh, Western Australian Division President and former National Secretary, in a member discussion forum and email circulated to members a couple of days earlier.

Many SIA members will be perplexed by having such an email lob in their inbox without any explanatory background and with obtuse language.  In some ways the email reads like the accountant has done a runner to spend all the members’ money at the casino. Continue reading “Abuse, egos, corporate governance and the safety profession”

Workers’ compensation forum online – excerpt

On 4 March 2010, the Work Injured Resource Connection conducted a forum in South Australia.  Several politicians who have expressed an interest or have an active interest in workers’ compensation were present.

Part of the forum has been uploaded on Youtube and is included below.  The speaker in this video, Robert Brokenshire, represents the Family First party in the South Australian Parliament.  Much of this part of his presentation reflects public statements that Brokenshire and others have made in relation to the State’s workers’ compensation system. Continue reading “Workers’ compensation forum online – excerpt”

Non-mainstream media acknowledges the realities of workplace fatalities

Bernard Keane writing in online newsletter, Crikey, is one of the few who has reported on the Australian Government’s insulation scheme debacle and kept the fact of worker deaths as more than just a moral sideline to the issue.

On 3 March 2010, Keane wrote a very good article which draws on the political and media attitudes to worker deaths over the last decade in Australia.  He highlights the political expediency of selective reporting and commentary on safety issues.  Many of the comments and assertions made at the Cole Royal Commission are still reiterated today and form the basis of some political party policies.

Given the recent media coverage on workplace bullying, Keane’s reminder on the deaths and suicides in the Australian Defence Forces and the political reticence to do anything on the matter, is timely.

It is only six weeks before the International Workers’ Memorial day,  (28 April 2010).  The 2010 commemoration is likely to be one of the most political events since it began almost two decades ago.

Some of the statistics that fueled the outrage against then-Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, are seriously questioned in this blog article at Pollytics.com.

Kevin Jones

Could a prisoner’s death in a prison van be a breach of OHS laws?

ABC television program Lateline broadcast on 2 March 2010 an article (video available) about the death of 59-year-old Mark Holcroft in the back of a prison van in 2009.

Holcroft was a low risk inmate serving 7 months for a drink-driving offence.  He was several weeks into his sentence when he was being transported with six other prisoners to a low-security farm.  From the information made available by ABC, as Holcroft was dying in the van, the other inmates banged on the walls of the van and yelled to attract the drivers’ attention.  The van was equipped with a camera in each of the four corners of the van’s security compartment.  One inmate repeatedly signed at the cameras to attract the attention of the drivers. Continue reading “Could a prisoner’s death in a prison van be a breach of OHS laws?”

Food parcels required by some injured workers in South Australia

An independent member of the South Australian Parliament, Ann Bressington, has revealed that some injured workers in South Australia are receiving food parcels because their income is so low that they are living on bread and instant soup.

In a media statement released on 2 March 2010 (not yet available online), Bressington said

“Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson and I have both found ourselves in the position of having to provide food to injured workers because some were living on nothing more than dry bread and packet soups and unable to afford their medications.   It is a sad indictment of our government’s commitment to its constituents when sick, injured and vulnerable people are forced into this position….they have been thrown out in the cold and literally left to starve”. (link added)

The media statement was issued in support of the 10th WorkCover Public Forum scheduled for 4 March 2010 in the Way Hall, 10 Pitt St, Adelaide.

Bressington and McKenzie-Ferguson recently commented on WorkCover issues in SafetyAtWorkBlog.

Kevin Jones

Aussie politician risks head injury in photo op

The issue of quad-bike safety continues to be controversial in Australia.  This debate is not helped by inconsistent safety messages on television.  Many of the news bulletins in Australia on 2 March 2010 showed the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, riding, seemingly for the first time, a quad bike on his trip to central Australia.  Sometimes he is wearing a helmet and at other times, not.

Video available on the ABC website shows parts of an apparent induction on how to operate the quad bike.   Continue reading “Aussie politician risks head injury in photo op”

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