The solutions to most occupational health and safety (OHS) issues are multidisciplinary meaning that solutions are rarely simple and rarely come from a single source of information or knowledge. Recently I have been challenging my colleagues to spread their voices and experience beyond their own disciplines to illustrate how a worker’s health and safety is …
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) released the results of its latest occupational health and safety (OHS) survey. In past surveys respondents have been trade union members. This survey was opened to non-union members, but to what extent is unclear but this has not stopped the ACTU speaking of the respondents as workers rather …
The first week of media coverage of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Mental Health is very thin on the roles and impacts of workplaces and work activities on people’s mental health, but it is part of the conversation. The Public Hearings on July 4-5 had Prevention and Early Intervention as their theme. Prevention as occupational health …
Barry Naismith, through his OHSIntros organisation, has released his latest independent report into the performance of WorkSafe Victoria and occupational health and safety (OHS) more generally. Naismith’s contribution is a fresh context on Victoria’s safety and health regulator, and it is an excellent reminder of the prominent issues in the previous 12 months....
Western Australia’s transition to harmonising with the Model Work Health and Safety laws is progressing, according the recently released Budget Papers for 2019/20. Volume 1 of Budget Paper No 2 lists some significant issues for the Government and specifically the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety:...
A couple more election campaign publications and statements have appeared in relation to occupational health and safety (OHS), one by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and another in response to some advertising by the Construction Forestry Mining Maritime and Energy Union (CFMEU) released by the Master Builders Australia (MBA). Institute of Public Affairs There …
A quiet revolution is happening in workplace health and safety in Australia. I don’t mean the laws – that boat sailed with the failure of the attempt to harmonise laws and tweak them for the new Century. The change is coming from a realisation that what is still mostly called Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) … Continue reading “Is workplace health and safety still relevant?”