Category: small business

Good Safety Grows Economies—Poor Governance Shrinks Them

Recently, WorkSafe ACT posted the latest episode of its Safety Spotlight podcast in which occupational health and safety (OHS) experts share their knowledge. There is commonality with much OHS advice, but there are slight variations of data and emphasis that are useful to note.

This episode included Jacqui Agius, the Australian Capital Territory’s Work Health and Safety Commissioner, and Professor Helen Lingard of RMIT University. According to the show notes:

“….they discuss the crucial importance of workplace safety, not just in preventing injuries but also its economic impact. The episode covers the hidden costs of cutting corners on safety, the significance of a proactive safety culture, and the benefits of consulting workers and employing safety by design.”

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Tough questions about psychosocial safety and health

Over the next week or so, SafetyAtWorkBlog will be focusing on the issue of psychosocial hazards and psychological risks at work, as we cover the Psych Health and Safety Conference in Sydney. These risks and hazards are the most pressing topic in occupational health and safety (OHS) at the moment, with an increased demand for solutions from workers and the community, as well as heightened expectations for regulatory compliance. I apologise for this intense focus, but I welcome your comments and participation.

I will start by posing this question:

“The Australian approaches to psychosocial hazards and psychological safety in Human Resources and Work Health and Safety have been siloed in the past. Are the approaches getting closer? Is there more cooperation between the two or are the two disciplines’ aims still too different?”

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OHS questions remain after Jumping Castle owner freed

A Magistrate has said there is insufficient evidence to find Rosemary Gamble guilty of a criminal offence over an incident involving an inflatable jumping castle that resulted in the deaths of six children at Hillcrest in Tasmania. The prosecution may have ended, but a Coronial inquiry remains scheduled, and a civil class action against the state of Tasmania and Ms Gamble was launched in 2024. This article looks at the occupational health and safety aspects of the incident.

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6 Essential OHS Questions for Employers

Occupational health and safety (OHS) laws establish duties on employers (and employees) to provide safe and healthy workplaces. These duties reflect the social morals of the time, but the morality of employers is rarely challenged.

Below is a selection of OHS-related questions that all employers should be asked and able to answer. How would you or your employer respond?

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OHS advice for new businesses

It is legitimate to not know something, but choosing not to know something is inappropriate, especially about something you are meant to be knowledgeable about, like occupational health and safety (OHS).  Governments rarely provide sufficient information about people’s OHS obligations when creating and building a business.  Preloading a person with OHS information should reduce the likelihood of an “I didn’t know” excuse when (if?) a workplace incident occurs.

A UK labour law firm, Lewis Silkin, recently published its latest “Compliance requirements for new employers in Great Britain”, which may close the OHS knowledge gap.

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“Does my business comply with the OHS/WHS law?”

Employers struggle to know if their businesses comply with the local occupational health and safety (OHS) or work health and safety (WHS) laws. They always have and, likely, always will. Employers are hungry for certainty and are often annoyed with OHS advisers who refuse to give a definitive answer to the question in this article’s title.

In the 1990s, particularly in Victoria, there was almost a frenzy for a simple audit tool developed through WorkSafe Victoria called SafetyMAP. It disappeared well over a decade ago, but my Goddess, it was popular, and small business operators especially wanted it. Even when its effectiveness was questionable.

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Business values and OHS impacts

No one outside occupational health and safety (OHS) talks about OHS. Outside of scandals and disasters, OHS is a fringe consideration, especially in the media—social and mainstream. So, OHS needs to insert itself into mainstream conversations. The column by economics journalist Ross Gittins in The Age newspaper on September 23, 2024, says much about OHS without mentioning it.

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