risk – Page 183 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

The potential of Safety Impact Assessments

For some time, several countries have had legislation that require Environment Impact Assessments. Why don’t we have Safety Impact Assessments?

Often safety issues are applied retrospectively in project development. Often the application is impeded by actions or pathways that are already in place, although embryonic.

There is evidence that safety performance can be greatly improved by having safety considerations at the very early design stages of projects. Perhaps, rather than simply stating “safety is important”, the commitment to safety be more overtly stated in a formal manner at the project design stage. Continue reading “The potential of Safety Impact Assessments”

Are OHS inductions sound?

Mostly no.

Over the years I have experienced site safety inductions that have involved sitting in front of a television and video player in a shed and then telling the safety manager I watched the induction video and understood it.

I have sat in a site shed with a dozen others and endured an induction of scores of PowerPoint presentations and a questionnaire that was, almost, workshopped and did not represent any understanding of the work site’s OHS obligations.

There have been long inductions where there is a lot of information but no handbooks to take away or to refer to later.

There have been OHS inductions that have involved no more than “there are the toilets, the tea room is over there and there’s a fire extinguisher here somewhere”.

Bad induction is an unforgiveable flaw in a company’s safety management system and clearly indicates a careless attitude of companies towards their employees’ and contractors’ safety. The significance of induction should not be underestimated because it has two purposes – to establish a common state of knowledge of all workers on a site before one starts work and to have a reference point for investigations of any incidents. Continue reading “Are OHS inductions sound?”

Only vampires work nightshift

For several years now evidence has been growing that nightshift is unhealthy. Nightshift and other shiftwork can produce digestive problems, fatigue and impairment, increased breast cancer risks……. OHS and workplace experts seem to avoid the question “should nightshift be allowed?”

Recently, a senior executive met with nightshift staff in a remote branch office. The nightshift work was office- and computer-based. The executive described nightshift as a “lifestyle choice”. This comment infuriated some of the more placid employees to speak up and take the executive to task. Their point was that the job has deadline constraints that have existed for well over twenty years but this does not mean that any of the employees would not jump at the chance of undertaking the same tasks in daylight. Could the nightshift tasks be undertaken in daylight, in a new shift arrangement and still meet the client’s information needs? The question had not been asked and, as a result, nightshift became the unquestioned status quo. Status quo meant that any health hazards associated with the work were similarly seen as unchangeable and therefore not worth assessing. Continue reading “Only vampires work nightshift”

Patient safety is also workplace safety

Rosalind McDougall wrote in The Age on 26 July 2010 about the excessive and dangerous workloads of junior doctors in Australia. Similar articles have appeared elsewhere in the world for years but the hazard persists. Part of the reason for the hazard’s persistence is evident in the article if one considers the hazard as a workplace hazard rather than a patient safety hazard or a matter of customer service.

McDougall states the impact of excessive workloads for doctors:

“While most hospitals now have policies advocating ”safe hours”, the reality is many junior doctors work shifts that fail to meet the guidelines.”

“Numerous studies (as well as commonsense) indicate that doctors’ technical skills are compromised when they work too long.”

“While certainly not universal, some practices make it almost impossible for junior doctors to work safe hours.”

Where is the OHS regulator? Is workers’ compensation for stress, fatigue or psychosocial hazards ever invoked by junior doctors? Are there OHS guidelines for the safe operation or design of hospitals and emergency wards? Continue reading “Patient safety is also workplace safety”

A gut feeling for workplace risk

We all do it, we use language to both inform and at times mislead. However, when the latter happens in the field of OHS it can be a very damaging to standards. I’d like to draw attention to one such (class of) circumstance but I’m not sure that the very language I need to use as demonstration will be acceptable within this communication domain.

Some years back I tried to provide a means for linguistic interaction between some academic language and that of workers. I hoped that parcels of theory and practice could interact to highlight strengths and weaknesses, as a kind of OHS reality check. Once a word or a concept is understood communication has only started as an approximation. I was trying to allude to other, subtler tools of language that must also be understood. For example, it’s important to take note of tone, irony, sarcasm, analogy and metaphor. These are all tools used in ordinary conversations, they not only deliver information, but may in fact provide pointers to essential meanings intended. It’s hardly news to state that even a pause or a comma can make all the difference. Try, “What is this thing called ‘Love’?” and “What is this thing called, Love?”

I asked a worker on a large demolition project (that within a year killed a man) how good was the local OHS system and how well was it supported by management. The response was less than enthusiastic. I then tried to get a sense for actual OHS practice, I needed a real example. I asked this measured, neck-tattooed forklift operator of about 56 how he decided what size and type of forklift to use for which load. Was there a policy? Was there a standard operating procedure (SOP)? Was there any written document…….. or what? He was sitting at the time in one of the heavy forklifts on the site, a large machine about to lift and shift a huge load. Continue reading “A gut feeling for workplace risk”

Montara oil spill report still not released and restlessness is increasing

At least one state government in Australia is becoming annoyed with the delayed release of the investigation report in to the Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea in 2009. The Federal Government has had the final report for almost one month.

In an ABC media report:

“The Country Liberals environment spokesman Peter Chandler [said] “There’s only one reason that anyone would want to stall releasing a report [and that] is because the report’s damning of perhaps both the Territory Government and the Federal Government in this matter,”….

The Australian Greens are also pursuing the final report.

Although the report will be of direct relevance to the oil and gas industries in Australia, the international significance from parallels with the BP Gulf of Mexico leak cannot be ignored. This resonance could also be part of the report’s delay as the government refines a media strategy for the release.

The need for cautious assessment is understandable but it is just possible that an early release of the final report will assist in the United States’ control and remediation measures in the Gulf, the prevention of similar incidents in the hundreds of existing and planned deep sea oil rigs in the US and avoid the Federal election hoo-ha that seems to have already begun in Australia.

Kevin Jones

Career fitness program for police has wider impacts

Australian newspapers reported that Victoria Police will be applying fitness criteria not only to police recruits but throughout their career. Other than giving headline writers the chance for puns about “thin blue lines”, the coverage raises the long existing issue over fit-for-duty.

Workplace health and fitness is not a new issue of Victoria Police. It used Body Mass Index as an assessment criteria in 2009 and has politely motivated police to increase their fitness for years. Other emergency services, such as the fire brigades, have had gyms and other programs but the nature of the industry allowed for stations that incorporated living and exercise facilities. Shift rosters and the patrol duties of police never allowed the same options.

Nor is this an Australian phenomenon. South Africa instigated a similar fitness regime in March 2010. In a terrific media grab, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele is reported to have said:

“Police officers should be able to walk with their heads held high, their stomach in, and chest out – not the other way around….” Continue reading “Career fitness program for police has wider impacts”

Category: risk

The potential of Safety Impact Assessments

Like this:

Are OHS inductions sound?

Like this:

Only vampires work nightshift

Like this:

Patient safety is also workplace safety

Like this:

A gut feeling for workplace risk

Like this:

Montara oil spill report still not released and restlessness is increasing

Like this:

Career fitness program for police has wider impacts

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: