Category: risk

Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch

A regular SafetyAtWorkBlog reader emailed in a comment this morning that we believe is justified as including it as a post itself.  The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster is out of the news outside of the United States but as the Australian reader shows below, there are important lessons from how this disaster occurred and its aftermath as there is in most disasters.  What needs to occur is for the issues to continue to be discussed and lessons applied.  Some links in the post below have been added.

“I’ve been following the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster West Virginia, in which 29 miners died from an explosion that occurred on 5 April 2010. It appears that the explosion occurred due to a build up of methane and coal dust in the mine.  Records show that, in the weeks leading up to the explosion, some miners had expressed fears for their lives to their families.  One left a note for his family. To my thinking it reads like a suicide note. Continue reading “Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch”

Harmonisation strategy will fail and legal costs for OHS will increase

The Australian Government’s plans to harmonise the country’s OHS legislation will fail.  In the Australian newspaper on 6 May 2010 the president of the Safety, Rehabilitation & Compensation Licensees Association, Dean Stone, said

“Harmonisation was aimed at having the same law in force across the country but it is simply not going to be able to do that…  Each of the companies moving back to the harmonised schemes will need more staff merely to comply with the different approaches.” Continue reading “Harmonisation strategy will fail and legal costs for OHS will increase”

Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig

More information is coming to light about the treatment of survivors of the explosion on the Transocean oil rig.  According to an article (and podcast) on National Public Radio on 6 May 2010, company lawyers for Transocean had survivors sign waivers within hours of the disaster.

The article says:

“The form that they made them sign had, ‘I was here when it happened, I didn’t see anything.’ Or ‘I saw this and I was or was not hurt,’ ” says Steven Gordon, a Houston attorney who represents some of the survivors…. Continue reading “Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig”

Shift work research findings are grounds for big concern

A scientific symposium held in Canada in April 2010 has raised some serious concerns about the health impacts of shift work.  Some of the evidence has existed for a while but collecting it all together makes one wonder how companies can justify shift work in the face of such high risks to workers’ health.

From the evidence presented at the symposium, workers will be tired at work when working shift work and are more likely to be injured than those on day shift.  Some workers have an increased risk of breast cancer.  Foetal growth in some pregnant women may be impeded.  Circadian disruption may encourage the growth of tumours and an international agency is convinced sufficiently of the risks to determine that shift work itself is probably carcinogenic.

The Occupational Cancer Research Centre and the Institute for Work & Health should be applauded for making the evidence presented at the symposium publicly accessible.   Continue reading “Shift work research findings are grounds for big concern”

Mining Minister’s safety claims challenged

Two days ago, Ian Macdonald, the New South Wales Minister for Mineral Resources opened the annual conference of the NSW Minerals Council. It was  a dour presentation but delegates said that the Minister is not the most exciting public speaker.  Macdonald announced a new research program into safety culture, an announcement that did not get much response from the conference delegates, although the project is significant.

The day after opening the conference the Minister releases

“the State’s first Coal Mine Safety Audit Report of over 290 coal mining operations in NSW.”

Did he not think that such a report would have been important to launch at a conference of over 400 NSW mining delegates which included several CEOs of NSW mining corporations? Continue reading “Mining Minister’s safety claims challenged”

Small OHS issues may be controlled by big picture action

The continuing risks of asbestos are not nearly as noticeable on the radar of OHS professionals in the Western (or Minority) world as it used to be.  In many people’s minds, a ban on asbestos has removed the risk.  That is not the case, even if much of our attention is given to cleaning up the chemical’s dangerous legacy.

Asbestos is as big an issue in the majority world as it ever was in the West and, for those few who want to look at the global impact of asbestos, the risks are not hard to find.

Every so often, the reality of asbestos pricks the minds of the complacent West and a recent safety alert issued by one of Australia’s smallest OHS regulators is an example.  Northern Territory’s WorkSafe has echoed actions by WorkSafe WA and issued a safety alert on

“plant … recently imported into Western Australia and found to contain bonded asbestos gaskets.  The plant was imported from New Zealand and Thailand for installation at a major industrial site in that state.  Workers at the site were unaware that any gaskets contained asbestos.”

Risks associated with imported machinery and plant will increase for Australia as its own manufacturing capacity declines.  This economic reality and inevitability sets some challenges for OHS professionals who operate, principally, in only one jurisdiction. Continue reading “Small OHS issues may be controlled by big picture action”

Casino smoking comes under a cloud

Crown Casino is a regulatory anomaly in many ways.   Smoking in workplaces has been a particularly difficult one for the casino.  When bans were first mooted the casino tried several control measures including air curtains between croupiers and smoking gamblers but the casino eventually agreed to be smoke-free, except in its high rollers venue, the Mahogany Room.

Now the poor air quality in that room is under threat due to one worker who, reportedly, seeking compensation for contracting lung cancer from her work activities.  According to a newspaper report four other employees are seeking relocation and have including the issue of smoking risks as one of the reasons.  Crown Casino has confirmed that smoking concerns have been raised. Continue reading “Casino smoking comes under a cloud”

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