Tom von Aschwege has provided SafetyAtWorkBlog with a long article that was intended as a comment on recent articles concerning the safety culture of BP. The comment deserved to be an article in order to provide more prominence to von Aschwege’s views. Links, where appropriate, have been added and format has been tweaked. “I came by Ross … Continue reading “BP, safety culture and integrity management”
Australia is behind in many things and in front of the rest of world in others. A recent visit by Jon Katzenbach, senior partner with Booz & Company, to Australia indicates that we are lagging on the issue of organisational change. According to an article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) on 11 May 2010, Katzenbach … Continue reading “Safety leadership and change through informal networks”
Two days ago, Ian Macdonald, the New South Wales Minister for Mineral Resources opened the annual conference of the NSW Minerals Council. It was a dour presentation but delegates said that the Minister is not the most exciting public speaker. Macdonald announced a new research program into safety culture, an announcement that did not get much response from the conference delegates, … Continue reading “Mining Minister’s safety claims challenged”
This evening in Canberra, Safe Work Australia announced the winners of the 5th Annual Safe Work Australia Awards. The profiles below are provided by Safe Work Australia. The winners are: Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System – Private Sector GHD, South Australia “GHD South Australia uses an electronic workplace health and safety management system accessible … Continue reading “Australia’s national safety award winners”
If safety culture is set and developed by leaders, what does it mean when a Prime Minister launches a scheme that places the creation of jobs over the need for worker safety? Two days before International Workers’ Memorial Day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners program analyses the failed insulation scheme initiated by the Australian … Continue reading “If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?”
New survey data on business attitudes to safety was revealed at the Safety In Action Conference on 20 April 2010. The data was released jointly by the Australian Institute of Management and the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA). In short there was not much that was new in the survey data but the survey was important for several reasons.
In Australia, safety management is being progressed most obviously through sociology and the work of Andrew Hopkins. But perhaps it is possible to cut through some of the commercial “safety culture” twaddle by looking at the work of philosophers and the concept of phenomenology. As any modern student seems to do instead of reading the original, look to the movie. … Continue reading “Phenomenology and the safety professional”