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Kevin Jones
Why has the Australian government refused to release the investigation report into the Montara oil spill?
SafetyAtWorkBlog’s interest in this report is principally over the identification of potential risk control measures that could reduce the chances of another deep-sea oil rig exploding or identify any design or safety features that could stop such a savage leak of oil into the community.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on 12 August 2010 about the devastation to East Timor’s fishing and seaweed industries as a result of the spill in 2009 . An earlier media report about Indonesia seeking compensation for its seaweed beds is available HERE.
The Australian Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, said on 11 August 2010:
“The lessons to be learned from Montara, and I might say the Gulf [of Mexico], create a clear need in a very sensitive, important national industry, both environmentally, economically and from a health and safety point of view, for a strong single national regulator that’s well resourced and focussed,” ……
This may be the way to go but AAP reports that Ferguson he is refusing to release the investigation report until after the August 2010 general election!! Continue reading “Politics overrides safety”
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?”
Occupational health and safety(OHS) is supposed to be a skill that anyone can obtain and apply but it is often complicated by experts. This is not to say that OHS is “common sense”. The notion of common sense is a nonsense.
Several years ago, Laurie Anderson performed in Melbourne, Australia. Her show was “Homeland” and the song that I most remember from her performance was “Only an expert“. There is a wisdom in the song that remains as topical as much now as it did when I heard it at the start of the international banking crisis and the US home lending crash. Anderson has been able to update the lyrics of the song to include the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
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”
The Australian media is providing considerable coverage to the legal claim by two female workers against Airservices Australia over bullying and sexual discrimination. Airservices Australia is a government organisation that control aircraft movement over Australian airspace.
The details of the harassment mentioned in the media are quite offensive and have no place in the modern workplace.
There are a couple of OHS related issues that pertain to the legal action and the media articles. Firstly, the media struggles to differentiate between sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying. Bullying has the most direct relationship to occupational health and safety but the others generate stress in the workplace and therefore the impacts, if not the actions, fall within the OHS purview. The Australian Financial Review (AFR) (page 7, not available online) has a headline “Flight controllers sue for sexual discrimination” yet the article reports on bullying. Continue reading “Confusion over bullying and sexual discrimination on display in air traffic controller media reports”
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”