David Michaels has been nominated by President Obama as the new Assistant Secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Department of Labor. (A brief profile of Michaels is available HERE.) A posting at a US Workers’ Compensation website links through to a discussion on the potential impacts of the Michaels’ appointment. There … Continue reading “Do health professionals make the best OHS leaders?”
SafetyAtWorkBlog has received several enquiries around the Share Solutions mentioned in an August 5, 2009 blog posting. Coincidentally overnight WorkSafe Victoria released one of its “Health and Safety Solutions” dealing with falls through cellar trapdoors in the hospitality industry. For those of the “Youtube generation” the video below shows the risks of not controlling the … Continue reading “Share Solutions for the 21st century”
On 4 August 2009, John Merritt, Executive Director of WorkSafe Victoria, spoke at an OHS function hosted by the Australian Human Resources Institute in Melbourne. John is a lively speaker whose passion for workplace safety is obvious. I had the opportunity to ask the following question “How is reasonably practicable NOT a ‘get-out-jail-free card’?” Many … Continue reading “John Merritt and ‘reasonably practicable’”
WorkSafe Western Australia has announced a campaign on improving the OHS of workers in the accommodation sector for the next twelve months. The campaign is supported by a newsletter which includes a very useful safety checklist. WorkSafe WA has specified on its website, the following areas of interest: Electrical Safety – provision and testing of … Continue reading “OHS campaign on accommodation”
A new Bachelor degree in OHS is being offered at the University of Queensland. Professor of Occupational Health and Safety Mike Capra says in a media release that “graduates would become a new generation of highly-trained OHS specialists who would be in demand due to a workforce shortage.” The New South Wales WorkCover has had … Continue reading “New Bachelor degree in OHS”
In early July 2009, the Chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Judith Hackitt spoke in favour of an accreditation system for OHS professionals. This has particular relevance for those countries and professionals associations which follow some of the UK initiatives. Hackitt is quoted in the HSE media release said: “We do believe that there … Continue reading “UK’s HSE wants OHS professionals to be accredited”
This week a national scaffolding safety campaign was launched in Australia. There are several sources for new and useful information about the campaign, two are below. Mike Hammond of law firm, Deacons, has written a backgrounder on the need for the campaign and how to prepare for the compliance visits. Hammond lists the key messages … Continue reading “National scaffolding campaign”