On 8 February 2010, four workers at Café Vamp, a small restaurant in Melbourne Victoria, were fined a total of $A335,000 for repeatedly bullying, or allowing bullying to occur to, 19-year-old Brodie Panlock. Brodie jumped from a building in September 2006. Her family watched Brodie die from head injuries three days later. They were unaware …
The Safety Institute‘s OHS Professional magazine for December 2009 included an article (originally published in an OHS newsletter from Piper Alderman for those non-SIA members) about the application of legal professional privilege using a New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission decision as its basis (Nicholson v Waco KwikForm Limited). The case received considerable attention by OHS law firms.
During Asbestos Awareness Week 2009 in Melbourne Australia the trade union movement pledged to begin a national strategy to control and remove asbestos from Australia. This would have been a very tall ask any time in the last two decades but Asbestos needs to compete now with Climate Change for the attention of the media, … Continue reading “Asbestos Awareness Week calls for action”
On 4 November 2009, the first edition of the Journal of Health & Safety Research & Practice began appearing in some Australian letter boxes. This is the long-awaited, and long-promised, journal produced for members of the Safety Institute of Australia. The three articles in this inaugural edition are very good but the format and the … Continue reading “New Australian academic OHS journal”
Next week in Australia is Safe Work Australia Week in which each State jurisdiction undertakes information and promotional activities in support of occupational health and safety. In Sydney, the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) is hosting a Safety Conference. A major theme, understandably, is Australia’s OHS law harmonisation and there are excellent speakers at the … Continue reading “Getting the OHS message out there”
SafetyAtWorkBlog has been informed that the current CEO of the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), Gary Lawson-Smith, has accepted an invitation to join the WorkSafe Victoria’s OHS Advisory Committee (OHSAC), as a representative of the SIA. This is a terrific win for the SIA as it adds a degree of legitimacy to the organisation’s developing … Continue reading “Safety Institute gets a seat at the OHSAC table”
Comcare has instigated a hefty list of enforceable undertakings (EU) against John Holland Rail (JHR) after a contractor, Jack Wilmot, needed a finger amputated after a workplace injury. According to the report on the Comcare website “…an apprentice boilermaker was involved in an incident which resulted in crush injuries to his left index finger at … Continue reading “Finger injury causes hefty new safety agenda for John Holland Rail”