The Conversation offers a brief history of the introduction of high-visibility workwear to Australian workplaces. The authors, Elizabeth Humphrys, Bettina Frankham and Jesse Adams Stein, offer four reasons why ” Hi-Viz” has become a “major cultural symbol of our time” and beyond its obvious safety benefits.
On the morning of day one of the Australian Labor Law Association (ALLA) National Conference, the Fair Work Ombudsman, Anna Booth, mentioned a “culture of compliance.”
She explained the culture of compliance by revealing data in several industry sectors about significant non-compliance based on the activities of the Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors. So, it’s perhaps more important to talk about a non-compliance culture rather than a compliance culture.
Recently, the “right to disconnect” gained some prominence in Australia. This right, now legislated, allows employees and workers to choose not to respond to employer communications outside of contracted working hours. This was part of recognising that time away from work allows one to focus on non-work matters like family, socialising, mental relaxation, and more.
According to much mainstream media and the statements and lobbying of various business associations, the sky would fall (a phrase that appears with any proposed change that business groups do not like). A significant change has not happened, and the sky has not fallen. At a recent labour law conference, Fair Work Commission President Adam Hatcher described the publicity as overblown.
A new report on sexual harassment at work by Ourwatch has been reported on by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The report says:
“…. found 40 per cent of workplace leaders surveyed were unaware of their new legal obligations to prevent workplace sexual harassment.”
Given that the core legislative obligation to prevent sexual harassment is over 40 years old, perhaps better questions could have been asked.
Prominent investigative journalist, Matt Peacock, has died from pancreative cancer. Few of us are lucky enough to save people’s lives, some of us change the world. Matt did both. He was never an occupational health and safety (OHS) specialist but his impact on the world of work, especially in Australia was profound and, probably, unmatched.
In 2019, I was helping the (then) Safety Institute of Australia with its conferences. I approached Matt to speak at the 2019 national conference dinner in Sydney, hoping he would be provocative. (Here is an article from that time) He shocked many in the audience when saying:
“..my message tonight is that if you were all doing your jobs properly, then I wouldn’t have had anything to report on in the first place.”
He did not let up on his challenging criticism that night. Below is the full transcript of his presentation, available for the first time.
A not-for-profit organisation, Grapevine, released a short annual report on workplace discrimination and harassment notifications. The report received some attention in Australian media as these workplace hazards continue to be topical. The issues blend into the occupational health and safety (OHS) discipline, but the discussions were marked for omitting the OHS and regulatory context.
“If it cannot be done safely, it should not be done at all.” I have heard this phrase repeatedly over the last 12 months in particular. It is a truth, but it also avoids all of the flexibility our occupational health and safety (OHS) laws, institutions and interpretations have allowed for decades. Perhaps our tolerance of this flexibility is fading.
I was reminded of the quote above when reading an article (paywalled) in The Times on October 17, 2024, written by Will Humphries titled “Army sexual harassment: ‘People wouldn’t join if they knew the truth’”.
