Rex Hoy of Safe Work Australia (SWA) spoke on 1 June 2010 at the Australian Senate Estimates hearing (around page 44) and confirmed progress on the draft OHS regulations and codes of practice. The draft Hansard reports Hoy saying: “Just to cover the areas we are working on: there will be model regulations covering administrative arrangements … Continue reading “Safe Work Australia at Senate Estimates – harmonisation latest”
Workplace suicides are in the news at the moment due to Foxconn and, to a lesser extent, France Telecome. There is enough media attention for companies to start to evaluate their own risk exposures. Through LinkedIn, Tom Boudreau of R&R Insurance Services, issued the following advice under the title “Do Employers Have a Duty to Prevent Workplace … Continue reading “Suicide advice shows reactive thinking”
The new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) into prisoner health and welfare makes no mention of workplace safety, even though most prisons in Australia have formal work programs for commercial gain. The report “The health of Australia’s prisoners 2009” details the health and welfare status of Australian prisoners with some … Continue reading “Prisons are another world when implementing workplace safety”
Foxconn, a large technology manufacturer in China has a cluster of suicides. This issue is getting more attention than normal in Western media because the company manufactures products for Apple and the Apple iPad went on sale around the world at the same time news about the suicides broke. The question that must be asked … Continue reading “Suicides in China – is this a Foxconn problem or an Apple problem?”
A short time after a traumatic death of a family member will cause the family to feel they are in a mental spin. Not only are the usual funeral arrangements required but there can seem to be involvement in a personal loss from a mess of government departments and legal bodies. It is not expected that all … Continue reading “Guidance on the impacts of a workplace death”
The debacle of the Australian Government’s insulation job creation scheme faded when the scheme was cancelled suddenly by the Government earlier in 2010. Attention was always going to return at various stages as investigations into the deaths of young insulation installers begin but Parliament resumed earlier and the Opposition attacked. The attack has led to … Continue reading “The politics of the insulation debacle become clearer”
An earlier article today provided a reminder of a County Court judge’s criticism of OHS management-speak in a 2004 decision concerning the death of Robert Sergi on a rail bridge construction project near Geelong. In response to some of the safety initiatives outlined to the Court by the lawyer for Leighton Contractors Ross Ray SC, … Continue reading “OHS needs plain language, consultation and corporate engagement”