I am not immune to the worries and potential of using Artificial intelligence (AI) tools in my occupational health and safety (OHS) work and writings. As with millions of others, my relationship is a work in progress. I have long used the transcription software Otter.ai to transcribe short interviews. It remains less accurate than human …
Psychosocial hazards are gaining attention online, but the pace of change remains sloth-like. Two recent online events provide good, basic occupational health and safety (OHS) and organisational psychology information and some insight into the slow pace....
Australia’s news media is reporting a shocking report about the workplace culture of parts of the Nine Entertainment organisation – bullying, sexual harassment, abuse of power – all the elements of organisational culture that can be found in any company if one scratches the surface. Scratching is one of the aims of the occupational health …
Last week, RMIT University launched the Safety and Health Innovation Network (SHINe), a new safety, health, and wellbeing research fund that will work collaboratively with the University of Colorado’s Construction Safety Research Alliance (CSRA) and others. This is a promising source of funds for new occupational health and safety research in the construction industry. SafetyAtWorkBlog …
One area where human resources (HR) and occupational health and safety (OHS) do not overlap in practice is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), but they should. OHS cannot operate without effective consultation, and part of that effectiveness comes from a diversity of information, respectful conversations, and the inclusion of sometimes uncomfortable perspectives or truths. Recently, …
The Australian Institute of Health and Safety (formerly the Safety Institute of Australia) recently launched an Artificial Intelligence tool for the institute’s members to access its extensive data sources. I posed SPARK a couple of questions to evaluate its effectiveness. According to the September 25 2024 media release: “The “Safety Professional Assistant and Resource Knowledge-Base” …
No one outside occupational health and safety (OHS) talks about OHS. Outside of scandals and disasters, OHS is a fringe consideration, especially in the media—social and mainstream. So, OHS needs to insert itself into mainstream conversations. The column by economics journalist Ross Gittins in The Age newspaper on September 23, 2024, says much about OHS …
