Depression as an occupational illness is one of the most difficult hazards faced by managers and safety professionals. Depression is hard to understand and it is often difficult to recognise an employee who suffers from the condition, let alone, figuring out how the workplace may contribute to the illness. [Mental health issues are going to … Continue reading “Prevention of depression is better than treatment”
Recently, SafetyAtWorkBlog received a long anonymous email concerning the death of David Colson, Tasmanian abalone diver who drowned in October 2007. The Coroner completed his inquest into the death and released his investigation findings in early January 2010. An earlier blog article on the findings can be found here The correspondent pointed out that Allen … Continue reading “Something fishy in Tasmania’s abalone industry”
In November 2009, the Safety Institute of Australia published its first edition of its peer-reviewed journal. At the time it was described as a good start. Also in 2009, another safety-related peer-reviewed journal was released and this one has avoided some of the SIA journal’s shortcomings…. in a way. For a small academic country this now makes three OHS journals. The … Continue reading “Another new Australian safety journal”
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has come in for a lot of “stick” over the last few years by seemingly over-reacting to OHS hazards. In many cases, these reports have come from a misinterpretation of OHS rules and guidelines or a misunderstanding of the basic principles of safety. In some cases it is simply … Continue reading “Getting safety promotion right”
John Merritt is leaving WorkSafe Victoria to head up the Environmental Protection Authority. Nothing special in such a move as such progression is part of many senior executive public servant’s career plans. But Victoria’s politicians have started to use this change for political point-scoring on the basis that Merritt is married to Victorian parliamentarian, Maxine … Continue reading “Changing the OHS guard”
In March 2008, in Western Australia, a 22-year-old worker was crushed to death when a stack of veneered chipboard sheets toppled onto him. This sparked an audit campaign of the cabinet-making industry in 2009 by WorkSafe WA about which some results were released on 12 January 2010. Such results are not often covered in this blog but … Continue reading “Cabinet-making compliance”
The Safety Institute‘s OHS Professional magazine for December 2009 included an article (originally published in an OHS newsletter from Piper Alderman for those non-SIA members) about the application of legal professional privilege using a New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission decision as its basis (Nicholson v Waco KwikForm Limited). The case received considerable attention by OHS law firms.