Recently International SOS conducted a webinar on workplace psychosocial hazards and controls. Parts of it were clearly marketing and promotional, but some of the speaker’s content was fascinating and useful. The seminar’s structure was good because it included a global perspective and a local Australian. The speaker from a worldwide standpoint, Dr Rachel Lewis, used …
It is Farm Safety Week in Australia. These types of events are intended to raise awareness of specific issues. The biggest problem with these events is that solutions are rarely presented; it is assumed that raising awareness is sufficient. This is hard to justify in agriculture, where many of the smaller and high-risk farms have …
Earlier today, I wrote about the potential benefits of having an Australian Workplace Safety Bureau, an idea I first proposed in 2018. Others have similar thoughts. On the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) website, Elizabeth Byrne has written about the decade-long effort of Kay Catanzariti to gain justice, and an apology, for the death of her …
Every so often, there are sufficient numbers of workplace deaths and injuries that a government feels the need to act. In 2019, the Queensland government closed down its mining sector for a “safety reset”, which required every mine worker to be retrained in occupational health and safety (OHS). Recently Western Australia needed to act on …
We need to seek alternative perspectives to better understand ourselves and our place in the world. In 2020,Takenori Mishiba wrote about comparative perspectives of workplace mental health laws. The book has been published in a more affordable paperback edition very recently. The attraction of this book is that Australia was not part of Mishiba’s research. …
Ellen Pinkos Cobb is building an interesting library of books on sexual harassment. Next month sees the release of “Managing Psychosocial Hazards and Work-Related Stress in Today’s Work Environment – International Insights for U.S. Organizations“, but one of her previous titles from 2020 is also enjoyable. Cobb published “International Workplace Sexual Harassment Laws and Developments …
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Jennifer Low appeared on a recent episode of the Psych Health and Safety Podcast and, as a member of the Safe Work Australia (SWA), was able to provide an update on the new psychosocial regulations section, which is to be inserted into the Model Work Health and Safety …
