safety – Page 410 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

When looking to understand psychosocial issues, ask your grandparents

In February 2010, the New York Times ran an article about depression by Jonah Lehrer. The same article appeared in some of Australia’s weekend newspapers in early March. Lehrer looks at the issue of depression and considers whether there is a potential upside to the disorder by looking back as far as Charles Darwin for expressions of depression. He makes a challenging statement:

“…that depression has a secret purpose and our medical interventions are making a bad situation even worse. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection — increased body temperature sends white blood cells into overdrive — depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction.”

Lehrer goes on to make a case for depression being a possible source of creativity.

He refers extensively to the evolutionary psychology research of Andy Thomson and Paul Andrews who acknowledge that

“… depression is a vast continuum, a catch-all term for a spectrum of symptoms.”

Perhaps, particularly in the relatively recent consideration of depression in workplaces, we are being too narrow and too specific. Perhaps the case for workplace depression being made by some of the “depression sellers” is too targeted and we need to remind ourselves of the sociology of work, a perspective that seems to have gone out of fashion. Continue reading “When looking to understand psychosocial issues, ask your grandparents”

Man survives trench collapse, employer fined £3,500

Trench collapses can be one of the most horrifying incidents on a construction site. The UK’s Health & Safety Executive has released photos of the trench in which a worker, Mark Miller according to one media report

“…suffered a broken leg and bruising, and was incredibly fortunate to survive the horror of being buried alive.”

The same media report from Cambridge News says

“The court heard Mr Miller was saved by Hill [the contractor and Miller’s employer],…. after he rushed to free the trapped worker.

Robin Cooper, prosecuting, said: “He was buried up to his abdomen and felt his left leg break. More earth then collapsed on him and buried him to above his head.”

Continue reading “Man survives trench collapse, employer fined £3,500”

Non-mainstream media acknowledges the realities of workplace fatalities

Bernard Keane writing in online newsletter, Crikey, is one of the few who has reported on the Australian Government’s insulation scheme debacle and kept the fact of worker deaths as more than just a moral sideline to the issue.

On 3 March 2010, Keane wrote a very good article which draws on the political and media attitudes to worker deaths over the last decade in Australia. He highlights the political expediency of selective reporting and commentary on safety issues. Many of the comments and assertions made at the Cole Royal Commission are still reiterated today and form the basis of some political party policies.

Given the recent media coverage on workplace bullying, Keane’s reminder on the deaths and suicides in the Australian Defence Forces and the political reticence to do anything on the matter, is timely.

It is only six weeks before the International Workers’ Memorial day, (28 April 2010). The 2010 commemoration is likely to be one of the most political events since it began almost two decades ago.

Some of the statistics that fueled the outrage against then-Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, are seriously questioned in this blog article at Pollytics.com.

Kevin Jones

“Imagination at work” but not safety

GE Capital placed a full-page pictorial advertisement in The Age newspaper on 4 March 2010 (page 5 of the business section). The ad, partly reproduced below, promotes the company’s financial services with the corporate slogan of “imagination at work”. Sadly safety at work wasn’t included in the ad.

SafetyAtWorkBlog readers are asked to list the workplace hazards in this picture. Continue reading ““Imagination at work” but not safety”

Could a prisoner’s death in a prison van be a breach of OHS laws?

ABC television program Lateline broadcast on 2 March 2010 an article (video available) about the death of 59-year-old Mark Holcroft in the back of a prison van in 2009.

Holcroft was a low risk inmate serving 7 months for a drink-driving offence. He was several weeks into his sentence when he was being transported with six other prisoners to a low-security farm. From the information made available by ABC, as Holcroft was dying in the van, the other inmates banged on the walls of the van and yelled to attract the drivers’ attention. The van was equipped with a camera in each of the four corners of the van’s security compartment. One inmate repeatedly signed at the cameras to attract the attention of the drivers. Continue reading “Could a prisoner’s death in a prison van be a breach of OHS laws?”

OHS due diligence and safety management

In the February 2010 newsletter for Australian law firm, DLAPhillips Fox, Andrew Ball and Donna Trembath wrote about one of the important elements of the model Work, Health & Safety Act – due diligence. We look at how SafetyAtWorkBlog and other OHS information services can support due diligence on OHS matters.

Ball and Trembath list 6 elements in the definition of due diligence (in bold):

Acquire and have up to date knowledge of work OHS matters.

This first element is where business and OHS information sources are going to be crucial supporters. OHS law in Australia has always supported the need for companies and safety professionals to maintain a current state of knowledge. There have always been newsletters on OHS issues but it is very easy to fall into a habit of reading only the information that will assist one in their job rather than getting information that relates to safety throughout a workplace. The use of Health & Safety representatives or OHS Committees can be important in maintaining a “corporate” state of knowledge. Delegation of reading information can be very useful and HSRs and OHS Committees are probably the most neglected preventative tools in the safety professionals toolbox. Continue reading “OHS due diligence and safety management”

Workplace bullying data from Denmark

In occupational health and safety (OHS) and other workplace research, Scandinavia is often quoted. The application of research findings to other nations is of dubious value but often Scandinavian research provides clues to potential OHS hazards or control options.

In February 2010, the European Working Conditions Observatory published online a research report into workplace bullying. The report says

“Investigating the impact of bullying on psychological stress reactions according to the Impact of Event Scale, the NFA study finds that negative acts which potentially isolate the individual at the workplace, acts directed towards the person and unreasonable workloads induce most psychological stress.” Continue reading “Workplace bullying data from Denmark”

Category: safety

When looking to understand psychosocial issues, ask your grandparents

Like this:

Man survives trench collapse, employer fined £3,500

Like this:

Non-mainstream media acknowledges the realities of workplace fatalities

Like this:

“Imagination at work” but not safety

Like this:

Could a prisoner’s death in a prison van be a breach of OHS laws?

Like this:

OHS due diligence and safety management

Like this:

Workplace bullying data from Denmark

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: