A busy mum, two little kids playing on the carpet in the corridor. She is busy pulling out an old gas heater from the cavity in the wall. Dust everywhere. She wants to recreate the old fashioned open fireplace that was there. The job will take a few days, she’s not in a hurry. Then … Continue reading “Who would buy asbestos?”
Yossi Berger writes: We’re all familiar with the notions of focus and attention, and selective attention. We’ve all experienced how difficult it can be to attend to target information when background noise is distracting. The issue can be referred to as the signal-to-noise ratio. I often find its effects in discussions with managers and workers … Continue reading “Just workplace hardship”
I want to personally thank all of the loyal readers of SafetyAtWorkBlog for your support in the last twelve months. The blog stats is kicking along nicely but its prominence in OHS discussions, particularly in Australia, is growing stronger. This year the blog has been blessed by perceptive and controversial articles by Col Finnie and … Continue reading “Merry Christmas from SafetyAtWorkBlog”
On 4 November 2011, Victoria’s 7.30 program broadcast a heart-rending story about the suicide of a woman who, her mother believes, took this action after suffering chronic pain due a work-related incident and being given insufficient support from her employer and workers’ compensation bodies. The story of Rebecca Wallis (spelling uncertain) apparently generated sufficient communication to the … Continue reading “Work-related suicide gains some fresh media recognition”
The following are some of the processes supposedly used in workplaces to control/eliminate hazards: hazard identification, risk assessment and risk management. These should address the implicit questions of: ‘What?’, ‘How bad?’ and ‘What to do?’ The language then turns to words and concepts like ‘OHS culture’, ‘behaviour-based safety’… and all within some over-arching package referred … Continue reading “Managers being closer”
Not only are quadbike manufacturers resisting the inevitable, they have gone on the attack with posters being distributed that criticise the installation of crush protection devices (CPD)s, safety devices increasingly being recommended by safety advocates, farm safety specialists and government departments in Australia. According The Weekly Times on 16 June 2011, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Polaris and Kawasaki and others are … Continue reading “Quad bike poster distracts from the evidence”
On 20 May 2010, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation televised a story on the South Australian 7.30 program about the supposedly poor investigative performance of SafeWorkSA. The article was framed by a mother’s grief, the grief of Andrea Madeley over the loss of her son, Daniel. The story was some weeks coming as the story’s production … Continue reading “TV report into SafeWorkSA’s performance”