On 1 September 2009 there were early reports that “… a man died at Stanhope in northern Victoria when a one-tonne bag of salt fell from a stack and crushed him at a cheese factory.” Further details were revealed in a media report on 4 September 2009. The media officer for WorkSafe, Michael Birt, discussed the … Continue reading “Man crushed by unstable stack”
Firstly there is an apology for having statistics dominate SafetyAtWorkBlog this week however everything became available all at once. An earlier article mentioned some recent OHS statistics that have been released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Below is the SafetyAtWorkBlog interpretation of the survey report. The survey was undertaken by an independent research … Continue reading “Australian survey on attitudes to OHS and laws”
The Australian newspaper of 1 September 2009 epitomised the ideological problems with OHS in a business management context. Page 5 has two articles next to each other: “Renewed pledge to cut business regulation” and “Building chief ‘spat on an abused‘”. The first article reports on a speech by the Competition Minister, Craig Emerson, where it … Continue reading “In Australia OHS management is red tape”
Australian Standards have two, almost, distinct categories of standards – technical and management. A safety colleague reminded me of the distinction recently, a distinction that greatly helps the debate of Australian Standards’ authority. Perhaps there continues to be a role for some Standards, such as construction-related standards, that deal specifically with the environmental climate … Continue reading “More thoughts on Standards”
SafetyAtWorkBlog has written elsewhere of how the global financial crisis has caused OHS related programs to be revised. The latest bulletin from Standards Australia indicates the impact of the financial pressures on its plans and the reduction in the value of their investments has come at a time of other worrisome changes. (In this article … Continue reading “The future for Standards Australia will be hard”
Australia is undergoing a process of national harmonisation on workplace safety legislation. The government has played down the chances of State jurisdictions creating exemptions to, or variations of, OHS law. The message was that we are all “singing from the same song sheet”. Even before model OHS legislation has been approved, the New South Wales … Continue reading “Farmers creating dis-harmony in OHS legislation”
Australian Standards can have a major role to play in the management of safety in workplaces. They apply to equipment, documents, decisions and can have legislative credibility if required by specific regulations. Australian Standards are regularly referred to in guidances issued by OHS regulators adding further credibility. The highest selling standard for many years has … Continue reading “Two different approaches to risk management and safety in Australia”