Often immediately following an incident, the safety manager receives a brief phone call “There’s been an accident.” Information is scarce and, in my experience, often wrong or more fairly inadequate. in OHS there will always be an assumption that an injury or death is work-related as that is our patch but people die every day … Continue reading “Death at work differs from work-related death”
Occupational health and safety(OHS) is supposed to be a skill that anyone can obtain and apply but it is often complicated by experts. This is not to say that OHS is “common sense”. The notion of common sense is a nonsense. Several years ago, Laurie Anderson performed in Melbourne, Australia. Her show was “Homeland” and … Continue reading “Only an OHS expert can deal with the problem”
The Australian media is providing considerable coverage to the legal claim by two female workers against Airservices Australia over bullying and sexual discrimination. Airservices Australia is a government organisation that control aircraft movement over Australian airspace. The details of the harassment mentioned in the media are quite offensive and have no place in the modern … Continue reading “Confusion over bullying and sexual discrimination on display in air traffic controller media reports”
It is very important to treat media reports of bullying with a great deal of scepticism. An article in the Herald-Sun on 20 July 2010 is a good example of the collation of new and old information intended to generate alarm or outrage. Werribee Secondary College has had several incidents of occupational violence and school violence. All schools … Continue reading “Workplace bullying needs prompt and concise action to be effective”
For two decades now the occupational stressors/stress regulatory debate in Australia has limped along with the same arguments, same objections, same type of discussions. The same largely impractical documents mentioning psychological effects, physical effects, ‘good stress’ and what is or isn’t a disease and, of course, finger-wagging advice about risk assessments. Exactly how has all … Continue reading “I felt the job was driving me nuts: Stressors and Stress”
The Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) has uploaded to the internet an hour-long discussion of their Position Statement on “Realising the Health Benefits of Work“. Firstly AFOEM should be congratulated for sharing such a resource. Although the paper itself was launched in May 2010, to have access in July 2010 is a great achievement and an indication of the openness of the … Continue reading “A radicalised OHS profession may meet future social needs”
OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome[i] – Poverty of Expectations – The Japanese attack on US forces at Pearl Harbour in the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday 7th December 1941 was a military disaster for the US described as a totally unforseen and unforeseeable attack. It shocked the American people and brought the US into WWII (essentially … Continue reading “OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome”