On January 30 2020, the Victorian Trades Hall released a new “approved safety standard” on air quality risks for outdoor workers. It is the latest of a series of alerts and guidelines generated by the persistence of bushfire smoke in urban areas of, especially, New South Wales and Victoria. Bushfire smoke is only going to …
On 19 December 2019, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) issued a confusing and, ostensibly, three-paragraph media release about working in heat, a hazard that has been regularly analysed by SafetyAtWorkBlog. It states: “OHS laws which are designed to keep workers safe at work need to be updated to deal with the reality of … Continue reading “Instead of throwing stones, build a stronger house”
Unrelated to the article earlier today about working in extreme heat, last week Australia’s Cancer Council released an occupational health and safety (OHS) guide for working outdoors and to prevent and avoid skin cancer. It is a timely release for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere as it allows us several months to review …
In a small article on the ABC news site, Professor Peng Bi of the University of Adelaide said occupational health and safety laws needed a review to accommodate the changing climate and “I reckon some regulations should be set up to get employers to pay [fresh] attention to the occupational health and safety of their employees…” Contrary …
A spat has recently emerged on one of the safety discussion forums in Linkedin. The catalyst was a statement that “60% of every Australian worker turns up for work unfit due to De-hydration“ The source of this data, not disclosed at the time of the original post, was a company that sells “…a great tasting, … Continue reading “Sniping in social media raises issues about hydration”