At the Safety Show this afternoon, prominent Australian labour lawyer, Michael Tooma, spoke bluntly and confrontingly about workplace bullying in front of several hundred trade show delegates. For those companies who value a safety culture or are trying to create one, Tooma stated that if work colleagues do not stand up to bullying or report … Continue reading “Workplace bullying continues to be a hot topic in Australia”
One of the most discussed posts on this blog concerned an insurance company that paid the fines awarded against a company director. The company director had been found guilty of OHS breaches that led to the death of a worker. Yesterday, South Australia’s Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations. John Rau, said that he … Continue reading “MP wants to close a dodgy loophole but vision is what’s needed”
Recently WorkSafeWA released its annual workplace safety performance data. One of the most dramatic findings of the report was that “Work fatalities average one death every 21 days…” UnionsWA has used this finding to criticise the West Australian government for not signing up to the model Work Health and Safety laws. There is a logic … Continue reading “UnionsWA looking for the WHS pot of gold”
Below is a guest post from long time SafetyAtWorkBlog reader, Marian Macdonald. It was when Simon Murray put himself in the witness box and imagined what a judge would say that investing in walkways and guardrails became a ‘no brainer’. The property and facility manager of the Melbourne Business School was faced with an important decision: … Continue reading “Melbourne Business School takes the high road on fall prevention”
Recently a safety professional told me he was investigating an incident on a work site and asked his first question “What do you think caused the incident?” The response was “safety culture”. Of course the next question will always be “what do you mean by safety culture?” and in most cases at this point the … Continue reading “Where are the Codes for establishing a safety culture?”
Several years ago, a WorkSafe Victorian executive saw “reasonably practicable” as a major legal advantage in safety regulation. It is of legal benefit, but does it make workplaces safer? Does it make it easier to manage workplace safety? In this time of economic austerity and the pursuit of red tape reductions, can the “reasonably practicable” … Continue reading “Need to focus on safety first and compliance later”
Ten years ago, Randy DeVaul wrote several articles for the Safety At Work magazine, a precursor to this blog. His US perspectives were enlightening and he has agreed to contribute occasionally to the SafetyAtWorkBlog. Below is an article he originally wrote in 2004. As safety professionals, we have all worked at “selling” safety to upper … Continue reading “Increasing Production Performance Through Safety”