risk – Page 166 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Eye safety campaign – a good start but shortsighted on safety

On 19 May 2010, the Optometrists Association Australia (OAA) launched a national eye safety campaign. This campaign is worthwhile but illustrates some of the shortcomings of this type of campaign.

The OAA media release states:

“Sixty per cent of all eye injuries happen at work, .. warn optometrists who are urging every workplace to put eye safety procedures in place as part of a new national campaign.

Optometrists Association Australia (OAA) and HOYA Lens Australia will launch ‘Eye accidents change lives forever’ a comprehensive workplace eye safety campaign this week.” [links added]

The need for eye safety procedures is clear but the recommended action is too narrow. The entire focus of the campaign is to increase awareness of eye hazards and to increase the usage of safety eyewear. There is no focus on the reduction of the hazard itself, just the protection of the worker’s eyes. Continue reading “Eye safety campaign – a good start but shortsighted on safety”

What the mobile phone/cancer study means for workplaces

Over the last few days there has been considerable media attention around the world about the Interphone study into mobile phones and cancer. The report says that there is an increased risk of some brain cancers for heavy mobile phone users but is this a concern for employers who are obliged to provide a workplace and work activity that is without risk?

The Interphone study is important for many reasons but ultimately it established an anchor point or a reference point on mobile phones and cancer. The fact that it was largely inconclusive, in this context, is far less important. Professor Bruce Armstrong summed up his take on the report in a media briefing on 18 May 2010 where he acknowledged continuing uncertainty on the hazard of brain tumours and mobile phones. Listen to Prof. Armstrong below:

Continue reading “What the mobile phone/cancer study means for workplaces”

The Astonished Manager: Not in my wildest dreams

Dr Yossi Berger of the Australian Workers Union has been reading some of the debate in SafetyAtWorkBlog and offered the article below for publication. He said to SafetyAtWorkBlog

“…in relation to BP’s OHS catastrophes and comments about their management style, their managers and this aspirational, easily-bandied-about notion of workplace culture. Two things stimulated me to put together this comment below: first, on the back of some 2000 workplace inspections across Australia and some internationally I have not detected this thing called ‘workplace culture’ other than as a cheap metaphor and ploy to manipulate; even if you chose to think of this phenomenon as ‘shared values and how we do things here’. Secondly, there’s terrible and dangerous bullshit going on in relation to ‘personality cult’, ‘disconnect’ (‘no one told me’), and ‘it couldn’t happen here because we care’.”

YB Beaconsfield 1_edited-1 — Yossi Berger in Beaconsfield Mine

Continue reading “The Astonished Manager: Not in my wildest dreams”

BP, safety culture and integrity management

Tom von Aschwege has provided SafetyAtWorkBlog with a long article that was intended as a comment on recent articles concerning the safety culture of BP. The comment deserved to be an article in order to provide more prominence to von Aschwege’s views. Links, where appropriate, have been added and format has been tweaked.

“I came by Ross Macfarlane’s article totally by accident. I regret to say that I completely agree with him, because I have made some of the same, or very similar observations. I too am an ex-BP employee, and I too have a strong sense of dismay at what is occurring in the Gulf of Mexico.

Prior to retiring from BP in 2009, I worked in Integrity Management roles for 6 years in the BP deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GoM) organization. In those 6 years we put massive amounts of time and effort into improving Integrity Management (IM) processes and practices for GoM operations – even more so after the 2005 Texas City accident, Thunder Horse listing incident, and Alaska pipeline failure. I am thoroughly convinced that BP has done more and accomplished more in this area overall than any other GoM operator. Yet somehow these things still happen in BP operations, and I wonder how that can be. How can BP be so unlucky, and other GoM operators, with far fewer technical resources and knowledge, not have this happen to them? Continue reading “BP, safety culture and integrity management”

Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia

Prominent OHS unionist, Yossi Berger*, has attempted to place the issue of quad bike safety in the greater context of OHS In the latest issue of the Australian Workers’ Union’s Say Safety magazine (only available in hard copy).

Berger says that the current debate between safety advocates and vehicle manufacturers over quad bikes is the latest illustration of a debate that leads nowhere while workers continue to be injured and killed.

A current debate in Australia about quad bike safety

“…unfortunately looks like following a similar pattern. The use of this machine kills hundreds of riders around the world every year, and in Australia – occupationally – about 15 every year, mostly in farming. It looks like the entire discussion (for improvement) is going to develop into another description of how not to achieve fundamental OHS improvements.” Continue reading “Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia”

Shiftwork saviour? – Caffeine (sort of)

Caffeine is a commonly used stimulant in many workplaces around the world. As such, it is often considered to be the friend of the shift worker and a new analysis of research findings may make that friendship stronger.

According to a new study from Cochrane researchers:

“The results of this systematic review suggest that caffeine may be effective in improving performance in persons engaged in shift work or suffering from jet lag, although it may not be possible to confidently translate such an improvement in performance to a reduced injury risk.” Continue reading “Shiftwork saviour? – Caffeine (sort of)”

Safety magazines in Australia

In Australia there are safety magazines and then there are safety magazines but which are the publications that are obligatory reading for safety professionals and practitioners?

National Safety magazine, published on behalf of the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA), has been the safety magazine of choice in Australia for many years. It has developed a degree of authority in the safety profession that is beyond the status of the NSCA.

The Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) has a publication principally distributed to its 3,000 members that, through several incarnations, has tried to establish some professional authority but is unlikely to match National Safety magazine. Continue reading “Safety magazines in Australia”

Category: risk

Eye safety campaign – a good start but shortsighted on safety

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What the mobile phone/cancer study means for workplaces

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The Astonished Manager: Not in my wildest dreams

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BP, safety culture and integrity management

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Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia

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Shiftwork saviour? – Caffeine (sort of)

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Safety magazines in Australia

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