I’ve frequently observed a manner of bullying not easily described, a below the surface iceberg of bullying. It can range from a parent relentlessly nagging a child with “You don’t love me”, to a manager at work asking a worker – with a fixed grin, “Don’t you love me anymore, matey?” whilst requesting (always with … Continue reading “The Iceberg of Bullying”
Recently a safety professional told me he was investigating an incident on a work site and asked his first question “What do you think caused the incident?” The response was “safety culture”. Of course the next question will always be “what do you mean by safety culture?” and in most cases at this point the … Continue reading “Where are the Codes for establishing a safety culture?”
In The Australian newspaper on 24 November 2012, columnist Judith Sloan discussed how the harmonisation of Australia’s occupational health and safety laws are “a present glaring example of a despot stripped bare…” Earlier this year, in April, Sloan said harmonisation was dead so one could say she is flogging a dead horse. Some parts of … Continue reading “Flogging a dead horse when it is still alive, though looking poorly”
In August-September 2012 a media release was circulated in Australia promoting an “…an Australian industry first – leading construction & mining workplace safety provider RIS offers to indemnify operators against non compliance prosecution.” This may be a first for RoofSafe Industrial Safety (RIS) but not for Australia. SafetyAtWorkBlog has reported on a smaller but similar system that … Continue reading “More safety indemnities offered but with similar limitations”
Melody Kemp in Vientiane writes: The apoplectic brouhaha that greeted Wikileaks in the past few months has shown us the power of the internet to upstage, discomfit and enrage. Governments like corporations operate under a variety of ‘commercial-in-confidence’ scores, the cadence of which changes with the degree of self interest at hand. That Wikileaks has … Continue reading “The Social Media is the Message”
OHS research into why the small business sector does not “get” safety has been occurring in Australia for over ten years with some of the most useful being undertaken by Dr Claire Mayhew. But the challenge, or problem, persists. On 4 October 2010, WorkSafe Victoria released some information about an OHS blitz by inspectors on small businesses … Continue reading “Small business OHS seems to be stalled”
Most safety professionals can tell stories about how workplace injuries are hidden so that bonuses or rewards are still distributed even though they are not warranted. Most of these examples are at the shop-floor level where rewards, although much anticipated, are minor – first aid kits, movie tickets, sometimes money – and where peer pressure can be quite … Continue reading “UK case exposes the hypocrisy of leadership commitment”