Every year the ILO sponsors the World Day for Health and Safety At Work on 28 April 2009. This day is a day of remembrance for most countries where people reflect on those who have died at work in the previous year. Each year, these days are full of tears and grief, and motivation for … Continue reading “Australian trade unions hijack the World Day of Safety”
The West Australian government has taken the extraordinary step of talking directly to the senior management of Australian mining corporation BHP Billiton about the recent spate of fatalities at BHP’s worksites. The cynic would say that we now know the number of workplace fatalities that it takes to gain a Minister’s attention however, the fact … Continue reading “BHP Billiton deaths – government intervention”
In 2001, one of the first legislative actions of George W Bush was to repeal the United States ergonomics standard. At the end of his presidency there are indications that he is thinking about the regulatory impost of OHS on businesses again. Crikey.com and others have reminded us of the Bush Administration’s plans concerning the … Continue reading “George W Bush and workplace safety”
Western Australian Premier, Alan Carpenter, is to be applauded for stating that the Parliament is a workplace. This sounds like stating the bleeding obvious but Parliament has often turned a blind eye to this fact. Certainly, the Premier is in election mode so there is an additional context in this period to everything he says. … Continue reading “Politicians’ workplaces”
Gerard Phillips, a partner in the Middletons law firm, wrote in the 7 August 2008 edition of the Australian Financial Review about the belligerence of the trade union movement in New South Wales in relation to the harmonisation of OHS Laws in Australia. He addresses two legal barriers to harmonisation that he believes should end. … Continue reading “What New South Wales unions need to give up for harmony’s sake”
Australian OHS authorities have been struggling for many years to address issues of fatigue in the workplace. Partly this has been because the issue of stress and bullying came to dominate the psycho-social agenda. The transport industry has pushed fatigue into the unavoidable hazard basket. New South Wales’ experience with this issue has been particularly … Continue reading “New Guidance on Preventing Fatigue”
Today, prominent New Zealand sports broadcaster Tony Veitch has admitted striking a previous girlfriend whose back broke in the incident. The issue of domestic violence is outside the approach of SafetyAtWorkBlog but Tony Veitch has identified some contributory factors to his actions – workload, stress and medications. Media coverage of Tony Veitch’s admissions will be … Continue reading “Domestic violence and workplace stress”