Jeff Sparrow recently gained considerable media attention with his book that reflected on violence in society. Yossi Berger once described occupational health and safety as a “kind of violence” in his book of that title. There is a lot of research into occupational violence, much of it from the United States which, to some extent, has an unrepresentative view of … Continue reading “Dipping into workplace violence”
Reports in the Australian media this week indicated that “nearly half the population has a common mental health problem at some point during their lives”. Safety professionals and HR practitioners should take note of these statistics and hope that it does not manifest in their shift, even though it is likely. The difficulty with trying … Continue reading “Mental Illness and Workplace Safety”
The global theme for the 2009 International Women’s Day (8 March 2009) is “Women and men united to end violence against women and girls” The organising committee is at pains to stress that although this is a global theme, individual nations, individual states and organisations are able to set their own themes. Some themes already … Continue reading “International Women’s Day (of safety)”
The growth of attention to psychosocial hazards in Australia received a considerable boost from a stress survey undertaken by the ACTU some years ago. During the survey of union-members, it became clear that bullying was a major generator and perpetrator of workplace stress. The unions went to town on this data and set the agenda for some time in OHS. … Continue reading “Bullying, duty of care and compensation”
Further to other SafetyAtWorkBlog posts concerning Ms Paula Wriedt’s sacking, Ms Wriedt has issued a statement expressing her disappointment at Premier David Bartlett’s decision. One comment from a newspaper columnist struck me as odd but worthy of note. The columnist said that Paula Wriedt’s public statements have followed the line pushed by beyondblue, a depression … Continue reading “Workplace depression approaches are too narrow”
As a publisher my mailbox is constantly bombarded by media releases. Some are irrelevant but most relate to safety in some way. Over the years the amount of attention given to workplace bullying has grown phenomenally. In my opinion the attention it garners is way beyond the level it deserves. That is not to say … Continue reading “Media reporting of workplace bullying”