On 27 May 2010, a worker at the Foxconn factory in died from overwork, according to a statement released on 4 June 2010 by SACOM. This coincides with a statement by Hon Hai Precision Industry on 6 June 2002, Hon Hai owns the Foxconn facility in Shenzhen. The SACOM statement reports: “Yan Li, 27, is … Continue reading “Foxconn worker dies of exhaustion – focus on working hours”
The new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) into prisoner health and welfare makes no mention of workplace safety, even though most prisons in Australia have formal work programs for commercial gain. The report “The health of Australia’s prisoners 2009” details the health and welfare status of Australian prisoners with some … Continue reading “Prisons are another world when implementing workplace safety”
Guest contributor Jim Ward writes: Interested observers of past OHS failures would do well to pay close attention to the insights of former BP employee Ross Macfarlane in the SafetyAtWorkBlog – A personal insight into BP and the corporate approach to safety. His erudite observations of some of the underlying issues surrounding BP’s succession of … Continue reading “Leadership starts with the truth”
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.
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”
“…OHS is not fit for the 21st century. It is isolated, has a limited academic base and remit, uneven provision, lack of good quality data, a poor image and is perceived by many as the servant of the employer.” Professor Niki Ellis speaks frankly about the OHS discipline in Australia. Professor Niki Ellis recently was appointed the … Continue reading “Professor Niki Ellis hits out at the state of OHS in Australia”
Day 2 of the Safety In Action Conference is almost over and I am confused. Some speakers say that safety cannot be improved without commitment from the most senior executives of a company. Others are saying that safety improvement can be best achieved by trusting employees. One speaker questioned the validity of the risk management approach to safety. A colleague argued … Continue reading “Australian safety conference – confused but in a good way”