In March 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest figures into the causes of death. A lot of media attention was given to the figures showing an increase in the suicide rate. It found that
“Among those aged 15 to 44, the leading causes of death were Intentional self-harm (suicide)…”
On the day those figures were released, the
The Age newspaper has published a feature article entitled “Workplace resilience: It’s all a great big con“. Although it does not mention occupational health and safety (OHS) specifically, it is applying the OHS principle of addressing the causes of workplace injury and ill-health. It says that workplace resilience and similar training courses and strategies:
“… can’t overcome the structural realities and power imbalances that characterise the employment relationship. “Workplace resilience” might help us bear up to stress, but it won’t solve its underlying causes. And the causes of workplace unhappiness don’t necessarily reside in the individual and their own ability to “be resilient” or “relax” – they are part of the economic structures within which we work.”
One of the most contentious issues in Australia’s occupational health and safety (OHS) profession at the moment is the move by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA)to certify the profession. In the February 2015 issue of the Journal of Health Safety and Environment, Warwick Pearse, Laura McCosker and Gunther Paul researched the SIA’s “professional project” and found it seriously wanting.
The paper “Reflection on the SIA Ltd professional project and the Body of Knowledge” states that the project
“…has the potential to promote a narrow technical view of OHS rather than a wider view which encompasses societal relations of power and politics.”
“The use of the BoK [Body of Knowledge] as a key element in the professional project has the potential to represent OHS as a unified system of knowledge — which it is not.” [link added]
In relation to the new harmonised laws in Australia Amy Towers recently stated in a media release that
“Many employers still haven’t got it quite right. While most have an understanding of their new health and safety responsibilities, we’re finding the practices they do have in place don’t sufficiently meet the new compliance requirements – particularly for managing temporary or contracting staff…”
This is no great surprise. While reviewing the compliance with incoming legislation, many law firms have similarly found that clients were not compliant with existing OHS laws.
Towers goes on to say that “businesses are most at risk of non-compliance in these areas:
E-learning has become an acceptable option for many industry training sectors. In Australia, this industry is still in its early stages. One of those reasons is that the internet resources are not as extensive as in other countries but the Federal Government began to establish a National Broadband Network (NBN) that should allow better e-learning servicing.
Last week, occupational health and safety inductions were provided with the NBN and e-learning approach. According to a media statement issued in early February 2012:
“With Australia moving to adopt a national qualification to enable workers to enter a construction site, a project is currently underway to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an immersive 3D computer game to deliver occupational health and safety (‘White Card’) certification training for the construction industry.
This would enable workers to use a training computer game to learn and be assessed for the unit of competency required by the National Code of Practice for Induction for Construction Work, without being compromised by time and place. Importantly, it also allows trainees to gain real world experience ‘on site’ or ‘using’ industrial equipment without exposing them to potential risk.” [links added]
SafetyAtWorkBlog posed some questions to one of the participants of the program, Skills Tasmania, and received the following responses from one of the program partners, Mark O’Rourke, the Educational Advisor of the Curriculum Innovation Unit of the Victoria University Continue reading “Construction induction certification could move online”
What would you do if a work colleague strips, screams, acts “like a child having a tantrum”, starts to sing and then jumps out of a window to her death? That is the situation that was faced by staff at the Sydney office of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in December 2005.
Only days earlier, 34-year-old Rebekah Lawrence, had participated in a self-development course called “The Turning Point” conducted by Zoeros P/L trading as People KnowHow. The course, according to one media report, the course included a session called “The Inner Child”
“in which those taking part were encouraged to develop a dialogue between their child and adult selves.”
Lawrence’s actions just before her death mirrored some of the course teaching.
PeopleKnowHow’s website has closed down with an announcement that all of its courses are under review. Other organisations that provide similar courses are running for cover. Transformational Learning Australia has said it
“…no longer has a professional relationship, affiliation or any other connection with People Knowhow.” [emphasis added]
TLA also says any relationship ended in 2005. That the company has felt it necessary to make a media statement about the end of the relationship shows the extent of the effect of Rebekah Lawrence’s death on this industry sector.
TLA goes on to say that
Our organisation does not accept participants who have a recent history of chronic mental illness, participants under the care of a treating professional who have not obtained that professional’s consent to participate, or people who demonstrate a propensity towards psychological fragility or a significant lack of cohesion during the introductory sessions of the program.”
The New South Wales Coroner found that in the absence of any history of psychosis in Rebekah Lawrence that,
The evidence is overwhelming that the act of stepping out of a window to her death was the tragic culmination of a developing psychosis that had its origins in a self-development course known as ‘The Turning Point’ conducted by Zoeros Pty. Ltd, trading under the name of ‘People Know-How” on the 14, 16, 17 and 18 December 2005.
The full coronial findings are difficult to read due to the personal details of Lawrence’s life, her relationship with her husband David and the general picture of her personality that comes through. An upsetting and enlightening interview with David Booth is available online from earlier in the investigation process.
The findings also provide considerable detail to the components of the course that Lawrence undertook. There is a greater level of detail than would be expected to be known by someone signing up for such a course and this is where the lessons can be learnt for the OHS professional and safety manager.
It has become common in many corporations who are trying to improve or introduce a positive workplace culture, to supplement their own efforts with “self-help” or “self-awareness” courses. Lawrence’s death has highlighted the lack of regulation or accountability in some sectors of this industry. This also highlights the need for people managers to thoroughly investigate such courses to ensure that good intentions are not likely to increase the risk of harm or damage to the employees who participate.
An audio report on the Coroner’s findings is available online.
Many workplaces often provide access to counselling services through schemes such as Employment Assistance Programs. The Coroner’s recommendations have some direct bearing on the issue of “counsellors”.
“The Executive Director of the Australian Psychological Society, Professor Lynne Littlefield pointed out that there are no legal restrictions in Australia for practising under the title ‘psychotherapist’ or under the title ‘counsellor’ and therefore no public safeguards against untrained or incompetent practitioners in this field.
Professor Littlefield pointed out that although there were many skilled counsellors and psychotherapists, there were also many whose competence is questionable and without any regulating mechanisms to stipulate the required training and levels of competence, there was no way of protecting the public from these poorly trained practitioners.”
Rebekah Lawrence’s death is receiving considerable media coverage in Australia at the moment and the New South Wales Government is carefully considering the Coroner’s recommendations concerning the regulation of some areas of the self-development industry. Employers and safety professionals are going to have a very different set of criteria shortly from which such workplace-related courses need to be evaluated.
One media report has indicated the start of the ramifications of this unfortunate death:
“The NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, said she had asked her department for ”urgent advice” on the case and would consider the coroner’s recommendations. A code of conduct for counsellors and psychologists had already been implemented and the Health Care Complaints Commission now monitored practitioners.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists called for closer monitoring and accountability of self-help and psychotherapeutic courses.”
On November 25 2009, NPR’s show Talk of the Nation conducted some discussions with truckers on their safety needs for the first part of the program. (Audio is available HERE)
The emphasis was on the conduct of drivers in vehicles and trucks but there is some discussion on the VORAD forward radar system applied to one of the tucks. It was refreshing to hear from a user of this technology which sounds almost like an advanced proximity system that has become common in aircraft.
There is considerable time spent with William Cassidy, the Managing Editor of Journal of Commerce. Cassidy discusses the pressures to speed and, thankfully, mentions some of the organisational pressures, such as paying by the mile.
One talkback caller says that fatigue from driving a car is different from driving a truck. Although a truck cabin may be full of more distractions than the cabin of a car, the caller says that the constant distraction equates to greater attentiveness.
Logic does not necessarily apply to driving but if we accept the caller’s position on truck driving being less fatiguing because of increased vigilance, would riding a motorcycle be even safer because of the need for the rider to constantly maintain balance?
Cassidy talks about the importance of perspective in considering these issues, the same reason for everyone’s common sense being slightly different.
He also discusses the “hours of service” rules, driving and rest limits that may be familiar to those of us outside the United States.
Dan Little, owner of the Little & Little Trucking Company, says that education at high school level would be the most successful measure for increasing safety for truck drivers. The US has a system of driver education in the school system that few other countries have so truck awareness in this context may be useful.
Placing the responsibility on an individual is a popular perspective and one that we can see reinforced on a daily basis but by focusing too much on this perspective reduces the need to innovative design of motor vehicles. It also necessary to consider any viable alternative freight transport options.
Many listeners will also be familiar with some of the discussion about the reliability of regulatory data collection. It is an argument that is echoed in many Western countries, particularly on the issue of uniformity of rules, consistency and harmonisation.
Little’s complaints about fatigue assessment by regulators is an argument that each country that is introducing fatigue regulations needs to consider. The comments also indicate the type of perspective that regulators will need to counter or integrate in their enforcement strategies.