OHS and Lisa Stevens

Lisa Stevens is an Australian OHS professional who specialises in laboratory and chemical safety through her own company.

Lisa is the latest in this series of profiles intended to humanise those who are interested, or active, in workplace health and safety

How did I get into Health and Safety?

My first taste of health and safety was working in the Dept of Labour and Industry (SA) many years ago as a casual clerk. Five years later I was managing the medical record department for a large psychiatric hospital, when I  was asked to provide training for nurses who were undertaking return to work programs in the department. I wanted to know more about developing return to work programs , and the only available was a subject within the Diploma of OHS (and I am talking about the pre-competency based training era!!)

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Sizzle but no steak

The COVID19, business disruption surveys keep coming. This time from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). On 25 April 2020 released its Business Conditions Survey Report 2020. which was

“… undertaken between 30 March and 17 April, and involved 1,497 businesses across all states and territories.

This overlaps the April 9 survey by the Australian Council of Trade Unions which had a similar sample size and data limitations.

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Gender, OHS and Checklists

The topicality and importance of many issues highlighted in early 2020 have disappeared. One of them was the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and Libby Lyons, Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, has released the speech she intended to give at the, now cancelled, Commission on the Status of Women meeting at the United Nations. Lyons said this about sexual harassment and employers:

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Workers and COVID19 survey

Last week the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) released some research into workers and COVID19. It is not peer-reviewed and there will certainly be much more research into the disruption and personal and occupational responses to the coronavirus disruption over the next few months. The survey results do not specifically analyse occupational health and safety (OHS) issues but there are clues to future considerations.

The media release, understandably, discusses the changed employment status or arrangements. The OHS hazards associated with precarious work are well-established and the survey illustrates the extent of precarity in Australian workplace, so mental health issues are going to come to the fore as government-imposed isolation continues and/or businesses reopen.

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Deaths of Health Care workers from COVID19

A doctor in a protective suit taking a nasal swab from a person to test for possible coronavirus infection

The theme for most commemorations on April 28 is the COVID19 pandemic. This is understandable as the pandemic has disrupted lives and economies globally and many people have died. Perhaps the most tragic of these deaths are those of medical and healthcare staff who have contracted the infection through their work. The largest public outrage over this situation has been in the United Kingdom, but a similar situation could easily have occurred in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere if those governments had not acted as quickly as they did or were less better prepared.

Some research has already commenced on healthcare worker infection deaths showing important initial clues on how governments, hospitals and medical employers can do better.

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OHS and Les Henley

Les Henley is an OHS professional with Safety Australia Group and often challenges my article. I appreciate the dialogue.

This is the latest in a series of profiles/articles intended to humanise occupational health and safety people beyond the structures of LinkedIn and other professional profile site. If you want to participate, email your responses to these questions HERE.

How did you get into Health & Safety?

My first intro to H&S was whilst I was still a Fitter back in the mid-1980s. Following the introduction of the 1983 (NSW) OHS Act, I was elected by my peer trades people to represent them on the inaugural OHS Committee. Then I was elected by the committee members as the inaugural Chair. Later, after several promotions, I took responsibility for OHS for my team(s) and worked hard to keep them as safe as possible in a heavy manufacturing industry. 15.5 years in that one company and I was troubled by the number and severity of incidents, some fatal, several permanently disabling. This led me to a mindset that Australia could do it better. Whilst in middle management, I undertook and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Employment Relations (combing Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management).

After graduating, and having learned so much on the job, I eventually took a redundancy from that company and established myself as a business consultant, initially looking at business systems re-engineering. As the market for OHS increased, I found myself focusing more and more on that aspect of business systems. Now 25 years later, I’m still in that field.

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Reasonably Practicable for the real world

The best public document on determining what is reasonably practicable under occupational health and safety (OHS) law remains this one from WorkSafe Victoria but, importantly, it is also unhelpful. The unhelpfulness is there in the title:

“How WorkSafe applies the law in relation to Reasonably Practicable”

What is needed more is a document about how an employer is expected to apply reasonably practicable to their workplace rather than how the law is interpreted. The focus should be on achieving a safe and healthy workplace but the discussion of Reasonably Practicable is almost always reactive and reflective with little advice on how to use this concept in Consultation to satisfy the positive (some still say “absolute”) duty of care. Below is a brief attempt at clarification.

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