Two new books about burnout arrived on my doorstep this week. They could not be more different. They reflect the mess of approaches to this type of psychosocial injury. Only one provides valid, useful evidence and advice. Bev Aisbett released a book that I found unreadable – partly because of the advice offered but mostly …
The internet and social media are peppered with articles that are ostensibly about occupational health and safety (OHS) and psychosocial health and wellbeing but are really marketing exercises. These things pop up frequently on LinkedIn. A recent example is from Lyra Health called “Workforce Mental Health Trends for 2023: Top 3 Predictions“. You can see …
A New Work Relations Architecture is a radical book for Australia. Radical because its authors are proposing industrial relations reform, and Australia has had very little of this since Prime Minister John Howard‘s attempt with Workchoices in 2005. Radical also because it has taken inspiration from the Robens approach to occupational health and safety (OHS) …
If you needed confirmation that the mainstream media is disinterested in occupational health and safety (OHS) unless there is a disaster or the incident can be narrowly categorised as sexual harassment, bullying or suicide, last week, the Australian Parliament passed important amendments to the Model Work Health and Safety laws. It seems OHS cannot compete …
Safe Work Australia has released its latest statistical profile on work health and safety in Australian workplaces. All of the information in the report is interesting and relevant; most of the information is positive or an update of what was already known. But there are things missing. The most obvious limitation of these statistics is …
Australian workplaces need more diversity in their workforce, including workers affected by psychosocial illnesses and conditions. Recently Mental Health Australia released a position statement on employment and mental health. The statement promoted increased employment opportunities but also touched on the role of occupational health and safety (OHS).
Extensive multinational auditing and consulting firms have been hammered for the last few years over the potential conflict of both auditing and advising the same companies and a toxic workplace culture. Most companies will not be able to afford these consultants’ prices, but the conduct of the large companies, the “corporate leaders”, affects every business …
