OHS research into why the small business sector does not “get” safety has been occurring in Australia for over ten years with some of the most useful being undertaken by Dr Claire Mayhew. But the challenge, or problem, persists. On 4 October 2010, WorkSafe Victoria released some information about an OHS blitz by inspectors on small businesses … Continue reading “Small business OHS seems to be stalled”
People die every day. Some die in their sleep in bed, some collapse in the street, some suicide at a place of their choosing, others die at work. But for those who die at work there is an important differentiation between dying at work and dying from work. The differentiation can be fairly simple to … Continue reading “Death at work and work-related death”
Often immediately following an incident, the safety manager receives a brief phone call “There’s been an accident.” Information is scarce and, in my experience, often wrong or more fairly inadequate. in OHS there will always be an assumption that an injury or death is work-related as that is our patch but people die every day … Continue reading “Death at work differs from work-related death”
The Australian Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, this morning launched the latest Australian Mesothelioma Registry. SafetyAtWorkBlog took the opportunity to ask Safe Work Australia some specific questions about asbestos and government policy. Their responses are below. The government has awarded the contract for the new Australian Mesothelioma Registry to a consortium led by the Cancer Institute of NSW.
Several weeks after UK Prime Minister called a general election and several months since David Cameron spoke volubly about the importance of occupational safety and health, workplace safety is yet to get a mention in the British election campaigns. Croner and LabourNet reports that Mick Holder of the Hazards Campaign, said: “While there isn’t anything positive for workplace … Continue reading “Workplace safety still missing from British election and political radar”
In 2003, emergency responders attended a major rail incident at Waterfall in New South Wales, in which multiple passengers were injured and seven died. According to a 14 April 2010 article in The Australian (page 7, not yet(?) available online): “The officers [David Wicks and Philip Sheehan] were among the first at the scene of the … Continue reading “Compensation denied because police officers only saw the aftermath of fatal incident”
The role of restorative justice in workplace incidents has received a major boost from the Legal Services Board in Victoria. According to an April 2010 newsletter from the Creative Ministries Network additional research funding has been received for a quality assurance framework. As mentioned in the article below restorative justice could have particular benefits to instances of workplace bullying. … Continue reading “Restorative Justice research gets funding boost as US hearings focus on workplace bullying and suicide”