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Ergonomics conference provides good, free knowledge

The 19^thTriennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2015) is currently running in Melbourne Australia with 900 delegates, of which 600 are from outside Australia. It offers a fascinating (online) library of ergonomic and occupational health and safety (OHS) research. Below is a sample of the research on offer picked, largely, at random.

It seems unnecessary to state that ergonomics is an essential part of the knowledge base of safety and production but ergonomics still seems to be a “dark art” to many. This is acknowledged by many in the sector and is summarised well by Ruurd N. Pikaar

Penalty rates outweighs workplace bullying

The attention given to the recent draft report of the

Hackett bemoans fluffy OHS cost estimates

The quest for accurate determination of the costs of poor occupational health and safety (OHS) has been a regular discussion point in this blog but the quest may be a never-ending one and ultimately pointless.

Recently the UK’s HSE Chairman, Judith Hackett took the Forum for Private Business (FPB) to task over estimates of OHS compliance costs. FPB stated that

“The cost of compliance for the UK’s 1.2 million micro, small and medium sized businesses is £20 billion of actual costs and £41 billion if you include opportunity costs’.”

Hackett was unable to look at the claims as the FPB report was only for members. This is a common marketing tactic where some information is released publicly in order to generate a demand which can be satisfied only with a membership or payment. The downside of this tactic is that the carefully constructed statements become accepted as fact without allowing those facts to be independently verified.

Coronial findings and research – another step on the rocky road

The final report into quadbike safety has finally been released by the University of New South Wales in a series of five papers and in the wake of Queensland coronial findings into nine quadbike-related deaths. (A New South Wales inquiry is currently underway)

It has been a

Debate over OHS accreditation and professionalism remains messy

In May 2015, SafetyAtWorkBlog wrote

Secrecy is hard to understand

Scott pic Over two months ago, SafetyAtWorkBlog sought basic and innocuous information from the office of Victoria’s Industrial Relations Minister, Robin Scott (pictured right at the Workers Memorial in April), about the MacKenzie review in to WorkSafe Victoria that was announced in February 2015. No response was received until 28 July.

A spokesperson for the Minister advised SafetyAtWorkBlog that all details of the review are Cabinet-in-Confidence and therefore cannot be released until Cabinet has discussed the review. An update will be available when that occurs.

It seems odd that information, such as an inquiry’s terms of reference, should be so hush-hush.

Learning safety and leadership from drama

Fukushima play Most professionals, including occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals, support the use of stories or narratives or case studies to explain complex scenarios and situations. Recently, at the ProSafe 2015 conference in Melbourne, acting and theatrical skills were used to illustrate the humanity behind the nuclear disaster of Fukushima.

To the uninitiated this may sound like quantitative risk assessment of underground mining being explained through interpretative dance by bandicoots, but the actors in the Fukushima disaster scenario were captivating and the power of theatre, even in this small-scale and on a conference podium, was powerful, stimulating and engaging. And with a

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Ergonomics conference provides good, free knowledge

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Penalty rates outweighs workplace bullying

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Hackett bemoans fluffy OHS cost estimates

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Coronial findings and research – another step on the rocky road

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Debate over OHS accreditation and professionalism remains messy

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Secrecy is hard to understand

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Learning safety and leadership from drama

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