Dr Rebecca Michalak has just published an extraordinary article calling on the Human Resources profession and many others to take a good, hard look at how they treat workers who may have been subjected to psychological pressures at work. Human Resources personnel could feel particularly hard done by but Michalak stresses that there are many …
This week in Australia, the Senate Education and Employment References Committee inquiry into industrial deaths conducts public hearings in three States in three days. Transcripts will be available shortly but it is worth looking at the record of the last public hearing from August 7 2018 to see the type of questions the panel are asking …
The 2018 Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACT) is happening in the middle of a campaign to “Change the Rules”. These “Rules” are largely concerning with industrial relations, of which Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is a subset, or complementary, element. Legislation constantly needs challenging and review; much legislation, like Australian Standards, …
Western Australia’s Parliament heard more about the State’s investigation into work-related mental health on June 26 2018. According to Hansard (page 3788), Alison Xamon of the Greens posed questions to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Mental Health, Alanna Clohesy of the Australian Labor Party, about the Education and Health Standing Committee report, The Impact of …
The first week of the two-week inquest into four fatalities at the Dreamworld theme park in Queensland has concluded. It has substantial occupational health and safety (OHS) management lessons for Australian businesses in a similar way to that of many recent workplace disasters. Those lessons are basic and the hazards are well-known in the OHS …
The guidance on workplace psychological health and safety forecast by Safe Work Australia’s Peta Miller was released on June 14 2018. There is potential for this guidance to change how mental health is managed and, most importantly, prevented in Australian workplaces. It is important to note that “Work-related psychological health and safety – a systematic …
Throwing chocolates to delegates, audience participation, push-ups, book giveaways, hand-eye coordination exercises – not the usual elements of the opening keynote speaker of a safety conference. Day 2 of the Safety Institute of Australia’s recent conference had a more traditional opening with presentations from a State workplace safety regulator and Australia’s occupational health and safety …