What is Farm Safety Week really saying about safety?

This week is Farm Safety Week in Australia.  This means that a lot of organisations will be issuing media releases about how to either, improve safety performance (ie. reduce harm) or raise awareness of risks and safety.  What is likely to be missing from the information is practical information.  This is partly because of the …

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Free safety conference was more valuable than many other, more expensive ones

Recently the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) conducted a one day conference that had keynote speakers at the start, two streams of safety research and discussion for most of the day and a panel to conclude.  This event cost delegates nothing but a day away from the workplace....

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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 … Continue reading “OHS awards consider work/life balance but not vice versa”

Business values and OHS impacts

No one outside occupational health and safety (OHS) talks about OHS. Outside of scandals and disasters, OHS is a fringe consideration, especially in the media—social and mainstream. So, OHS needs to insert itself into mainstream conversations. The column by economics journalist Ross Gittins in The Age newspaper on September 23, 2024, says much about OHS …

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“…the system isn’t broken. It was built this way” – Grenfell Tower and OHS

The inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower fire has yet to be seriously considered from the other side of the world. However, the report is being mentioned in Australia’s emergency services and fire sectors.  The inquiry has been thoroughly followed and analysed in the United Kingdom, and many excellent summaries have been published in newspapers, books, …

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“show me the bodies”

Significant changes in occupational health and safety result from one or more work-related fatalities. To my knowledge, this has not been labelled anyone’s “rule”, but it is a sad truism, and there are examples everywhere. Episode One of the BBC’s excellent Grenfell podcast series references the phrase “show me the bodies” as having been said …

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Male Loneliness and Work

Recent Australian research into male loneliness revealed some interesting work-related factors that employers may want to consider as part of their wellbeing and psychosocial change programs. The research includes that among some social factors, like the persistent belief by men of having a breadwinner role:...

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