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OHS needs a Benchbook too

Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC)  has released the latest (March 2018) edition of its Anti-Bullying Benchbook.  This is a regularly published document that offers background to its decisions and definitions used by the FWC through case studies and plain-English explanations.  The Benchbook clearly states that any occupational health and safety (OHS) issues are to be directed to the relevant OHS regulator but the book provides useful insight to a more (and limited) industrial relations approach to workplace bullying.

A major attraction of the

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Safety satisfaction survey surfaces in Safeguard

Australia’s independent review of the work health and safety laws is handicapped by performance criteria not being included in the original harmonisation process.  This lack of forethought is not unique and many infrastructure projects, in particular, fail to include research opportunities and priorities in the design of the project.  These omissions provide more significance to surveys of occupational health and safety (OHS) perceptions such as the report that was released (not yet available online) this week by Safeguard magazine in New Zealand and will feature in the magazine’s next edition.

The survey is based on responses from over 900 people and is the third annual

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Sexual harassment Code developed in isolation

Screen Australia has released its sexual harassment code of conduct.  If any film project in Australia desires government funding it will need to comply with this Code.  The Code is a good starting point and will need support from a broad range of elements of the entertainment industry but this Code is indicative of problems with many such codes that see the issue as a legal one rather than a safety and cultural one.

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iWitnessed tool holds promise for workplace safety

On April 3, 2018, the University of Sydney launched a new app

”to assist victims and witnesses record information in a way that can help with convictions and prevent miscarriages of justice”.

This immediately sparked my interest in using the app as a record of workplace incidents.

iWitnessed is intended as a tool to assist a person’s memory when confronted by an incident or a traumatic event.  The app steps you through the basic evidence-gathering questions of what happened, where, when, who was injured etc.  

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Robotics may cause an apocalypse if you’re male, old and low-skilled

Australia’s Office of the Chief Economist has released its first Industry Insights document for 2018.  This one focusses on flexibility and growth and included this statement in the chapter written by Andrew Charlton, a Director, of AlphaBeta :

“At the macroeconomic level, much of this change has been positive. The economy has created new jobs that are, on average, better paid, more satisfying and safer than the jobs that were lost.” (page 19)

Safer jobs? The last claim sent me to the source of the data – 

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A new Senate inquiry into industrial deaths

Canberra, Australia – October 14, 2017: A view inside Senate chamber in Parliament House

Another Australian Government inquiry into workplace health and safety (WHS) was announced on March 26 2018.  According to the Senate Hansard, the Senate’s Education and Employment References Committee will report on a range of occupational health and safety (OHS) matters by the end of September 2018.

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Change needed NOW, but don’t rush it

Australia has received its own local focus for the #MeToo concerns about sexual harassment in the workplace.  www.now.org.au is the result of a greatly increased concern in Australia, predominantly from the Weinstein issues and the Australian versions.  There seems to be enough interest and expertise behind this organisation that it will move beyond awareness raising to participating in policy decision. However, there is a risk in responses to workplace sexual harassment and mental health that was summarised well by Martin McKenzie-Murray in The Saturday Paper (paywalled) on March 24 2018 and echoes WorkSafe Victoria’s workplace bullying concerns of seven years ago.

NOW.org.au

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