Illegal migrant workers are not a big problem in Australia. Those who are caught are usually working outside of the allowances of their tourist or student visas. Being an island nation and the bottom of the world, Australia does not have border protection issues to the extent of the United States or Europe. That’s an … Continue reading “Coordinated raid on illegal workers in Australia”
It was good to hear the President of the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), Barry Silburn on the radio on 7 December 2009. The SIA has traditionally been very hesitant about going public on safety issues but clearly the potential disappearance of the School of Risk & Safety Science from the University of New South … Continue reading “The future of the School of Risk & Safety Science”
The e-Editor for the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, Shaun Gibbons, has commented on the recent speech by David Cameron, the Opposition Leader of England’s Conservative Party. In this editorial Gibbons says “Instead of cosying up to the newspapers which perpetuate the myths that somehow health and safety is to blame for much of … Continue reading “OHS criticism needs to aim “at the source””
Australia has many safety awards programs. SafetyAtWorkBlog has reported on some of the practical solutions from the awards and lamented how the prominence of such solutions fades quickly as the mainstream media ignores them. The blog has also shown examples of a hard copy solutions database that existed in Victoria and Australia for a couple of decades. The … Continue reading “A good book of safety solutions case studies”
Most Australian States’s OHS laws have encompassed workplace risks fro those who enter the enter the workplace and for volunteers. The issue came up again with the recent review process on model OHS laws. However a recent national survey by Volunteering Australia found that “30% of [over 1400 volunteer] organisations surveyed have not been able to access … Continue reading “OHS for volunteers is still not working”
The July 2004 edition of SafetyATWORK magazine contained an interview with Sam Holt the CEO of Australian company Skin Patrol. The fascinating service of Skin Patrol was that they travelled the outback of Australia with a mobile skin cancer testing unit. That is a big area to cover but with the increasing incidence of skin cancer and the acceptance … Continue reading “Workplace skin cancer risk remains high”
For decades OHS professionals have known that the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) does not accurately measure the safety performance of an organisation. LTIFR can be manipulated and is responsive to single catastrophic events. The consensus has always been that LTIFR is one indicator of safety improvement but should not be relied upon at … Continue reading “The Senate inquiry into Australia Post should provide important lessons in OHS, HR, RTW and LTIFR”