workplace – Page 178 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Government can do much better on level crossing safety

The Victorian Government is likely to say the Auditor-General’s report into “Management of Safety Risks at Level Crossings“, released on 24 March 2010, supports the government’s initiatives. This is true but the report says much more than just describing the State Government’s efforts as “satisfactory”. (If my child’s report card said satisfactory, I would be talking to the teacher about why the performance was only “satisfactory”)

The report summary says the following:

“The rate of progress in improving safety and reducing accidents has been satisfactory. There are, however, elements of the risk management framework and its application that can be improved.”

These elements are specified as

“improving how the committee is informed of the views of the rail managers, who run train services and maintain the infrastructure, about their risks and priorities

assembling information that will allow the committee to effectively manage and monitor the delivery of the Towards Zero strategy

improving the understanding of what causes level crossing collisions.” [link added]

Clearly the Parliamentary committee is not getting the full risk story from the rail managers. Continue reading “Government can do much better on level crossing safety”

OHS awards consider work/life balance but not vice versa

On 15 March 2010, the Australian Government congratulated the winners of, and participants in, the 2009–10 National Work–Life Balance Awards.

According to a media release from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations:

“The Awards…. recognise family friendly practices like flexible working hours, options for working from home, paid parental leave, job sharing, onsite carer’s facilities and study assistance.”

Teleworking and flexible working hours are both directly relevant to occupational health safety but also through the OHS elements of work/life balance. But the National Work-Life Balance Awards Team told SafetyAtWorkBlog that

“No direct OHS performance indicators were included in the judging criteria for the 2009-10 National Work-LIfe Balance Awards.” Continue reading “OHS awards consider work/life balance but not vice versa”

Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?

There are several initiatives throughout the world under the banner of workplace health that have little relation to work. They are public health initiatives administered through the workplace with, often, a cursory reference to the health benefits also having a productivity benefit.

So is a fat worker less safe than a thin worker? Such a general question cannot be answered but it illustrates an assumption that is underpinning many of the workplace health initiatives. There is little doubt that workers with chronic health conditions take more leave but, in most circumstances, this leave is already accounted for in the business plan.

Sick leave is estimated at a certain level for all workers across a workplace and, sometimes, a nation. There is an entitlement for a certain amount of sick leave for all workers, fat and thin, “healthy” or “unhealthy”. It certainly does not mean that the entitlement will be taken every year but the capacity is there and businesses accommodate this in their planning and costs.

Remove this generic entitlement so that only working hours remain. Is a fat worker less productive than a thin worker? Is a worker without any ailments more productive than a person with a chronic ailment? Is a smoker more productive than a non-smoker or a diabetic or a paraplegic? Continue reading “Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?”

Snopes can cut through the OHS bull

Chain letters were bad enough in the old days when both stamps and envelopes were licked but the internet has resurrected a lot of myths simply because it costs next to nothing to distribute the crap. Urban myths have evolved into internet outrage and, sadly, even OHS professionals forward on this rubbish. Continue reading “Snopes can cut through the OHS bull”

Home-based businesses need OHS consideration

SafetyAtWorkBlog is largely produced from a home-based business and the issues of safety, mental health, work/life balance are real issues in this business.

In the development of OHS regulations, a “workplace” has been fairly generic. For at least 50 years, our definition of “workplace” has reflected our individual experience of the places we have worked. (Lately, in Australia, a “workplace” has been designed as a place where work is performed, which raises lots of difficult issues in itself.) OHS regulations are rarely written by workers in a home-based business and sometimes the regulations miss this important sector of the workforce and the community.

An article on women’s wages in the Australian Financial Review on 16 March 2010 (not available online without a subscription) includes one paragraph of interesting and relevant statistics: Continue reading “Home-based businesses need OHS consideration”

Gas, lungs, ladders, fruit picking and concrete pumping – latest workplace incidents

The media on 11 March 2010 was reporting the discovery of a the body of a hotel worker in a beer cellar of a Victorian hotel. WorkSafe Victoria is investigating the possibility of carbon dioxide.

As with so many cases of confined spaces, a second man was lucky to be alive after venturing into the cellar to check on the hotel worker. The police report suggested that the second man was making a delivery to the hotel.

At such an early stage in the investigation and with so little detail,it is hard to say more than what WorkSafe’s Stan Krpan said in a media release this afternoon:

“With or without a gas leak or chemical exposure, limited means of entry and exit, poor air circulation, and working in confined spaces, is risky. Continue reading “Gas, lungs, ladders, fruit picking and concrete pumping – latest workplace incidents”

Workplace bullying and restorative justice – how to help the families left behind

A feature article on workplace bullying in The Age newspaper on 10 March 2010 has the additional or secondary benefit of again raising the relevance of “restorative justice” to the issue of occupational safety and health.

The main element of the article is the McGregor family who had two children commit suicide over related issues. The son, Stuart McGregor, described as being chronically depressed, was being bullied at work. He confided in his sister, Angela McGregor, over the issues. Angela had been bullied at school. Alannah killed herself. A month later, Stuart followed.

WorkSafe investigated the bullying at Stuart’s place of work, substantiated Stuart’s claims are is determining what further action to take. The newspaper reports that there may be insufficient evidence to pursue the case through the Courts.

What the reporter, Helen Westerman, does is to relate the grief and hurt of the parents to the potential benefits of the application of “restorative justice” in workplace incidents. Continue reading “Workplace bullying and restorative justice – how to help the families left behind”

Category: workplace

Government can do much better on level crossing safety

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OHS awards consider work/life balance but not vice versa

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Does being fat equate to being unsafe at work?

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Snopes can cut through the OHS bull

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Home-based businesses need OHS consideration

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Gas, lungs, ladders, fruit picking and concrete pumping – latest workplace incidents

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Workplace bullying and restorative justice – how to help the families left behind

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