Workplace suicides must be included in mental health discussions

[This article discusses suicide]

WorkSafe Victoria has charged a government agency with breaching occupational health and safety (OHS) laws over the suicide of an employee. The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a different perspective. Several OHS researchers, academics and trade union lobbyists are battling the HSE to become more involved with investigating suicides that have the potential to be related to work. The Australian circumstance is a little different.

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The invisible and often very personal OHS hazard

There is a rather delicate work health safety challenge in the air as people increasingly return to working in close quarters with colleagues after the COVID-19 pandemic. Fragrances or, more precisely, hundreds of undisclosed chemicals in many scents and perfumed products, are playing havoc with the immune systems of COVID long-haulers. 

In eastern Victoria, social worker Jenna* found herself gasping for breath in a meeting with a new heavily perfumed colleague.  Jenna said:

“I started coughing uncontrollably. Within seconds, I could barely breathe, and I thought I was headed for hospital.”

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Should safety regulators consider a refocus in their approach?

With the continued expansion of occupational health and safety (OHS) legislative frameworks, have we gone a step too far to enable employers, particularly small- to medium-enterprises (SMEs), to operationally achieve and maintain compliance?  With the recent introduction of psychological health requirements across Australia, this question has never been more important.

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UK workplace survey shows the huge misunderstanding on preventing psychosocial harm

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) has released an important survey of their members about health and wellbeing at work. Amongst many of the findings is that “Stress continues to be one of the main causes of absence” and that “Heavy workloads remain by far the most common cause of stress-related absence…” So how are CIPD members reducing the heavy workloads? They’re not. 78% of respondents are using Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to “identify and reduce stress”. Options like hiring additional staff or reducing the workload do not even chart. OMG!

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Virtual meeting while driving a car!!

Many companies have policies for driving work and company vehicles safely. Distracted driving has been identified as a high risk activity that contributes to injuries and deaths of road users. Recently, the Victorian road safety regulator introduced bans on touching mobile phones while driving. This has caused enormous debate, mostly from those who do not want to change their habits, about the safety of workers and others on the road.

Although not in Australia, this example in the UK Daily Telegraph (paywalled) on September 22, 2023, illustrates an example of very distracted driving, lying and hypocrisy.

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Is it time to ditch the Safety Moment?

It’s National Safe Work Month in Australia this October. This year’s theme is SafeTea** emphasising the importance of involving everyone in work health and safety (WHS) discussions by encouraging workplaces to have a safety chat over a cup of tea. This started me thinking about safety conversations. Is the Safety Moment mentioned at the start of every meeting ritual impactful, engaging, behaviour changing or is just eroding safety credibility?

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