Marnie Williams talks of farm safety, responsibility and a radical future

WorkSafe Victoria’s Executive Director, Health and Safety , Marnie Williams, has had a horrid week. Last Saturday, while being ill with a cold, she stood in for the Victorian Industrial Relations Minister at a Migrant Worker Forum, at which she was asked “what you gonna do about it?”. However she continues to make herself available, …

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The challenge of marketing workplace safety

Safe Work Australia (SWA) has formally launched National Safety Month.  National Safety Month has existed for many years and is ostensibly a marketing exercise about workplace safety. As such it is worth looking briefly at the marketing of occupational health and safety (OHS) messages. Campaigns can work well when there is a trusted and high-profile … Continue reading “The challenge of marketing workplace safety”

What better way to thank your Mum than by staying safe at work?

WorkSafe Victoria has often been a leader in advertisements about occupational health and safety (OHS).  It has had mixed success since its Homecoming campaign, as it tries different strategies in the vital social media and internet communication world. It’s latest campaign, Work Safe For Mum, has been running for around a week before Australia’s Mother’s … Continue reading “What better way to thank your Mum than by staying safe at work?”

A bright new book on safety communications

Australian marketer and communicator, Marie-Claire Ross, has moved from video to print with a new book called “Transform Your Safety Communication“.  The book  approaches safety communications from the marketing perspective and provides a terrific primer in how to write about workplace safety effectively. Marie-Claire Ross writes that “Too often, safety professionals are taught about compliance, … Continue reading “A bright new book on safety communications”

“Safety” deserves to be supported not replaced or rephrased

SafetyAtWorkBlog has written previously that the term “safety” seems to have fallen out of favour with some preferring terms such as “zero harm”. In November 2012 I wrote: “In some ways, “safety” has become an ineffective term, even a negative term in some areas. It is understandable that some companies and safety professionals would wish … Continue reading ““Safety” deserves to be supported not replaced or rephrased”

Lessons for Australia from UK assault on OHS red tape

The chase for government and corporate effectiveness and productivity increases through cutting “red tape” has, historically, had dubious longterm benefits. The attack on the red tape of occupational health and safety (OHS) has been brutal in the United Kingdom and has occurred with an unforgiving, and misguided, tabloid media.  Some in the UK media have been pointing out … Continue reading “Lessons for Australia from UK assault on OHS red tape”

WorkSafe Victoria tries humour in safety advertising

For the last few weeks WorkSafe Victoria has been running new injury prevention advertisements based on a game show theme of playing the odds on injuring a worker.  The curiosity of this campaign is that humour and a little bit of shame has been employed to communicate. It is refreshing for an OHS regulator to … Continue reading “WorkSafe Victoria tries humour in safety advertising”