Category: trump

This 2025 forecast offers mixed messaging

Risk and governance software company Navex published a forecast for 2025 which has some occupational health and safety (OHS) relevance.  It wrote “Rising temperatures in the workplace: Addressing civility concerns” which said

“Workplaces increasingly mirror the polarization we see in the world, with tensions surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, and political differences bubbling to the surface in workplace discord. Ideally, the workplace should be a collaborative environment, but now is a minefield of potential heated disagreements, making workplace civility a top priority for organizations.”

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Red flags for OHS misunderstandings

Occupational health and safety (OHS) continues to have a credibility problem and a poor social profile. Some of this is due to OHS peddling nonsense, but probably no more than any other discipline. Some of it is due to employers and other corporate leaders using OHS as camouflage for inaction or as a distraction from a different workplace issue. Some of it is due to ignorance.

It is up to all of us to strengthen the discipline’s credibility. To help with this, here are three words commonly used by leaders that we need to question and challenge whenever they are used.

Continue reading “Red flags for OHS misunderstandings”

The United States approach to work health and safety is getting creepy.

For most of the world, Donald Trump‘s re-election to the United States presidency is a non-event. Politicians and journalists are really interested, but Trump has little direct impact on our lives, and his policies, morals, and political strategies will affect us indirectly. Perhaps the most significant impact will be environmental.

Our business leaders take inspiration from American companies and corporate cultures. Even though he has yet to choose his Secretary of Labor, there are indications that occupational health and safety (OHS) is unlikely to progress under Trump’s term. It is useful to be aware of how Trumpian corporate culture and values may affect (infect?) the rest of the world.

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Regulations are guardrails

One of the learnings from the recent report into the Grenfell Tower Fire was the failure of regulations and their enforcement. Much attention was given to many of these failures happening during the UK Government’s “red tape challenge” where two (or more) regulations were removed for every one introduced.

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Trenching deaths and radio report

I am a fan of NPR’s radio program, All Things Considered. Occasionally, it reports on workplace health and safety matters. On July 19, 2024, it reported on the unacceptable number of deaths from trenching activities in the United States. The content was shocking and disappointing (the default setting for many reactions to occupational health and safety (OHS) matters), but the report’s format is an excellent example of journalism.

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Biden reverses Trump’s position on workplace safety

It is fair to say that the term of office for President Trump was not supportive of occupational health and safety (OHS). Former President Trump did not seem to see the need for OHS regulations and his attitude to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that it would never be considered as an occupational disease. Reports over the last week in the United States media, and the issuing of an Executive Order, indicate that new President Biden values workplace health and safety.

The New York Times (paywalled) is reporting that

“President Biden directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] on Thursday to release new guidance to employers on protecting workers from Covid-19.
In one of 10 executive orders that he signed Thursday, the president asked the agency to step up enforcement of existing rules to help stop the spread of the coronavirus in the workplace and to explore issuing a new rule requiring employers to take additional precautions.”

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What is needed to get us out of this crisis

As parts of the world begin to emerge from the disruption and lockdowns of COVID19 some academics and experts are advising that the future must be built on the past but should not seek to replicate it. Over a dozen prominent, global academics (listed below) have written a discussion paper to be published in the Economic & Labour Relations Review (ELRR) in June 2020 entitled “The COVID-19 pandemic: lessons on building more equal and sustainable societies” which includes discussion on workplace relations and factors affecting mental health at work. These big picture discussions are essential in the development of strategies and policies for the post-COVD19 world and occupational health and safety (OHS) has a legitimate, and some would say unique, voice.

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