Welcome and Thanks

A December special offer brought in a lot of new subscribers to the SafetyAtWorkBlog. Welcome and Thanks. Some readers will notice that this January the blog has produced thirty articles of unique content, news and commentary. This is excellent value for a month’s subscription of around $26.00 but subscribers don’t only receive new articles. Subscribers … Continue reading “Welcome and Thanks”

Ballarat workers’ memorial

Ballarat Trades Hall is looking for an artist to design and produce a memorial to Jack Brownlee and Charlie Howkins who died as a result of a trench collapse in Delacombe, Victoria in 2018. Any memorial requires careful consideration and broad consultation with all the relevant stakeholders....

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Avoid government interference, get in first

In occupational health and safety (OHS), there is evidence and then there is evidence. Regardless of the type of evidence, there is not as much as there should be. Many companies and organisations in Australia are required to publicly release annual reports that identify their financial status. Increasingly non-financial criteria, like OHS performance, is being …

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Take a good hard look at your business and do something about it

The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) published an opinion piece on January 20, 2020 concerning working hours in the medical profession and the risk of mental health and suicide from working excessive hours. It uses the Japanese problem of “karoshi” to illustrate the severity of the workplace risks but it misses a couple of points. …

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OHS law could prevent the psychological harm of sexual harassment

The prevention of psychological harm generated by sexual harassment has been a recurring theme in the SafetyAtWorkBlog. It is heartening to see similar discussions appearing in labour law research. An article, published in the Australian Journal of Labour Law, called “Preventing Sexual Harassment in Work: Exploring the Promise of Work Health and Safety Laws” written …

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2020 OHS plans for Queensland mines

The Queensland Government’s “Safety Reset” of its mining industry was a remarkable achievement in 2019. The government intends to be equally active in occupational health and safety (OHS) in 2020, according to a media release dated 18 January 2020. Below are its “current and upcoming health and safety reforms”:...

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Auditing the auditors

In the wake of several corporate collapses, the UK Government commissioned a review of the business auditing sector. In 2019, the final report of the Brydon Inquiry was released recommending substantial changes to auditing. Occupational health and safety (OHS) is increasingly considered as part of corporate governance so these recommendations have a direct effect on …

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