safety culture – Page 61 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?

If safety culture is set and developed by leaders, what does it mean when a Prime Minister launches a scheme that places the creation of jobs over the need for worker safety?

Two days before International Workers’ Memorial Day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners program analyses the failed insulation scheme initiated by the Australian Government in 2009.

According to the Four Corners website:

“Four Corners takes a forensic look at a chain of events that began with so many good intentions but ended in death and political humiliation. What exactly were the warnings given to the Department of Environment and the Minister Peter Garrett? Why did senior officials inside the Department reject safety concerns, preferring to play up the job creation aspects of the program?”

An audio preview of the Four Corners is available online. In that interview a whistleblower from the Department of the Environment states that

“..we were told that safety was of less importance than job creation.” Continue reading “If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?”

New business safety survey released at safety conference

New survey data on business attitudes to safety was revealed at the Safety In Action Conference on 20 April 2010. The data was released jointly by the Australian Institute of Management and the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA).

In short there was not much that was new in the survey data but the survey was important for several reasons. Continue reading “New business safety survey released at safety conference”

Important lessons from France Telecom suicide investigations

On 9 April 2010, according to media reports, an investigating magistrate was appointed to investigate the more than 30 suicides that have occurred in the France Telecom (FT) workforce.

This follows the November 2009 court finding that management policy could generate harassment.

An inspectors report in February 2010 identified that “pathogenic” management methods were applied to achieve a job reduction target of 22,000 between 2006 and 2008.

Significantly one media report says that suicides are continuing in the workforce with ten occurring since the start of 2010.

An Associated Press report on 12 April 2010 quotes a union lawyer:

“At one time, there was an intention to create a sense of frustration so employees would leave. The problem was that it worked too well…” Continue reading “Important lessons from France Telecom suicide investigations”

BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine

On 12 April 2010, the electronic media (video report available) reported a fatality at a BHP Billiton mine in Western Australia where

“a truck plunged 18 metres down a shaft at the Perseverance nickel mine near Leinster.”

Newspapers on 13 April 2010 have provided further details. The 45-year old man, Wayne Ross, was operating a “bogger” at the time. A profile of a bogger operator is available HERE. which reads

“Being a Bogger Operator is a very physically demanding job. You need to operate heavy excavators in dark damp conditions, however you will be well rewarded for this. Some Bogger operators can earn around $80,000 a year.”

The Leinster mine has been the site of several deaths since 2006. Four workers have died on BHP Billiton mine sites since July 2009.

The Age reports that the bogger the worker “was driving fell almost 20 metres down the mine shaft” and it took around 18 hours to retrieve his body. Continue reading “BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine”

Cash motivates, toasters create dissent

Motivating workers and managers to improve safety performance through rewards has been a contentious element of safety management processes for decades but no-one seems to have got it right. Most bonus/award/reward systems are able to be manipulated. An article in the Harvard Business Review and Australian Financial Review may add another dimension to the discussion by looking at the psychological effects of cash.

Kathleen Vohs undertook research that indicated

“The effect of handling money was quite pronounced—in the four scenarios we tested, the people who handled money reported significantly less pain or social exclusion.” Continue reading “Cash motivates, toasters create dissent”

Is forklift safety a fantasy of OHS professionals?

Recently a colleague brought a YouTube video on forklift safety to the attention of SafetyAtWorkBlog. The video illustrates the risks associated with jumping from a tilting forklift. By comparing this to a mouse trap, the Washington Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) is illustrating the importance of the safety cage on forklifts and the role of seatbelts. The video is from around 2005 and remains fundamentally sound in its advice.

Seatbelts are a continuously contentious safety advice on forklifts, not because they do not work, but because very few forklift operators use them. Yet the seatbelt restraint is integral to the driver’s safety in a tipping forklift as the video below illustrates.

SafetyAtWorkBlog, Standards and advertising

This weekend in a SafetyAtWorkBlog comment, Simon Berglund posted a commercial link to an Australian Standard on the installation of insulation. In his comment he did not reveal his commercial interest in posting the comment and I apologise for allowing it to be posted.

Simon Berglund is the “Director, Sales & Marketing – Information Services (Asia Pacific) at SAI Global” and I was not aware of this before approving his comment. His comment has now been deleted.

SafetyAtWorkBlog believes it is important to apply the appropriate standards to any workplace task and it may be the case that the Australian Standard Berglund linked to (AS 3999-1992) is the right document. But the action illustrates several major obstacles in the practical application of OHS in Australia: Continue reading “SafetyAtWorkBlog, Standards and advertising”

Category: safety culture

If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?

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New business safety survey released at safety conference

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Important lessons from France Telecom suicide investigations

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BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine

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Cash motivates, toasters create dissent

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Is forklift safety a fantasy of OHS professionals?

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SafetyAtWorkBlog, Standards and advertising

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