The person, Sir John Holland, died in May 2009. The company, John Holland Group (JHG), is in danger of a shortened life if it continues to make bizarre decisions. John Holland Group has been widely criticized by the union movement, principally for its decision to jump out of State OHS jurisdictions to the Commonwealth (Comcare) structure. This was seen … Continue reading “Who is advising John Holland?”
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”
Only a few days ago, SafetyAtWorkBlog questioned the usefulness of vision statements. A leaked internal memorandum from the structural mechanical process division of John Holland reported in the Australian media on 27 April 2009 shows just how tenuous such statements can be. According to an article in the Australian Financial Review (not available online, page … Continue reading “The tenuousness of safety culture”
Workplace safety and industrial relations are undeniably tied together in terms of policy development, legislation and implementation. This week the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) used the occupational safety record of the Australian construction industry to criticise the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC). It should be stated here that SafetyAtWorkBlog does … Continue reading “The misuse of OHS in industrial relations campaigns”
On 31 March 2009, Australian trade unionists (pictured below) protested outside the Safety In Action Conference. The crowd was objecting to the presence of Ms Janet Holmes a Court, the chair of John Holland, as a keynote speaker. As Dave Noonan, CFMEU Construction Division national secretary, put it “It is an outrage that a company … Continue reading “Safety conference protest”
The Australian Workers Union are justifiably angry at the latest workplace death associated with BHP Billiton. According to the company’s media statement on 19 march 2009 “We regret to inform that we have been advised by Mines and Port Development (a Joint Venture of Fluor and SKM), who manage our major construction activities, that … Continue reading “Many workplace deaths for BHP Billiton”
Awards for safety have always been an odd beast. Any award is an acknowledgement for effort and should be valued but frequently eligibility and the judging criteria are not clear. Last year WorkCover NSW released this criteria in the booklet that they produced about the award finalists and winners. This provided the winners with a clear … Continue reading “Safety Awards”