Good OHS thinking and practice are being slowly asphyxiated. By far most suggestions by workers, unions or good consultants for Health & Safety improvements are ‘choked’ by management naysayers and bureaucrats more in touch with their current minister’s moods than workplace reality. Not choked immediately or blatantly. In fact, that person may be patted on … Continue reading “The Asphyxiation of OHS”
Two days ago, Ian Macdonald, the New South Wales Minister for Mineral Resources opened the annual conference of the NSW Minerals Council. It was a dour presentation but delegates said that the Minister is not the most exciting public speaker. Macdonald announced a new research program into safety culture, an announcement that did not get much response from the conference delegates, … Continue reading “Mining Minister’s safety claims challenged”
A special guest for the Safe Work Australia events in Queensland was Matthew Gill, former Beaconsfield Gold mine manager. According to a media statement from the Government “Matthew Gill who was the public face of the Beaconsfield mine rescue will speak about how he immediately took control of the emergency and then implemented rescue operations for … Continue reading “Management – the importance of what comes before”
SafetyAtWorkBlog has repeatedly called for the release of the report into the Beaconsfield mine disaster that was undertaken by Greg Melick, QC. The Tasmanian Government has today made the report and appendices available online. The OHS-specific reports by Professor Michael Quinlan have also been released.
Since the 2006 rockfall at Beaconsfield Mine in Tasmania, the public has received limited information. There have been books about the rescue of two workers and the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Larry Knight. Greg Mellick undertook an investigation into the rockfall and found that noone was to blame for the rockfall. Many workplace … Continue reading “Why won’t the Tasmanian government release the OHS report into the Beaconsfield mine collapse?”
There have been several incidents recently that illustrate the unenviable pressures on inspectors and Australian OHS regulators. The Tasmanian Coroner found that the mining inspectorate of Workplace Standards Tasmania was “inadequate” and incapable of “of carrying out its core function of inspecting and enforcing best safety practices within the mining industry.” Two inspectors for that … Continue reading “Role of OHS Inspectors”
Australian Standards can have a major role to play in the management of safety in workplaces. They apply to equipment, documents, decisions and can have legislative credibility if required by specific regulations. Australian Standards are regularly referred to in guidances issued by OHS regulators adding further credibility. The highest selling standard for many years has … Continue reading “Two different approaches to risk management and safety in Australia”