Radical Concept 1 – A vehicle can be workplace Today the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) urged fleet managers to consider OHS obligations in their choice 0f work vehicles. ANCAP said “Our understanding of the OH&S principles is that there is an obligation on companies and fleet managers to ensure a safe workplace. “Vans certainly constitute … Continue reading “Vehicles are workplaces too”
Safe Work Australia released two OHS statistical reports in June 2009 – Mesothelioma in Australia, Incidence 1982 to 2005, Deaths 1997 to 2006 and Notified Fatalities Statistical Report, July 2008 to December 2008. Both reports are recommended for those statistic junkies out there as the analysis and trends are sadly illustrative, however some of the … Continue reading “New Australian OHS statistics”
Government OHS policies are, more often than not, based on statistics. The most common statistic is workers’ compensation claims as they are trackable and involve money. Another is fatality data. Many countries have an obligation on employers to notify the proper authorities if a serious injury has occurred. We know that in some countries … Continue reading “Injury Reporting Rates”
World COPD day was held on 17 November 2008. COPD Stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As with many of these health-related days there is more hyperbole than substance and often the most relevant information appears after the hype has died down. This is the case with a report just released by the Occupational And Environmental Medicine. … Continue reading “Beware the OHS hype on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”
The latest official, but not comprehensive, data for Australian workplace fatalities has been released. The Australian Safety & Competition Council has published the Notified Fatalities Statistical Report July 2007 to June 2008. Chairman Bill Scales AO said that this report provides analysis of notified fatalities across Australia for the full financial year. “There were 16 fewer … Continue reading “Latest Australia workplace fatalities data”
Over the last few days Australian media has been covering the hospitalisation of Tasmanian MP, Paula Wriedt. It has become apparent that Ms Wreidt attempted suicide as a result of a combination of work and family pressures. Being a politician is a difficult job and, as with any job, pressure can become excessive. This was … Continue reading “Another Australian politician attempts suicide”
Many OHS professionals however come from academic, or office or technical backgrounds, who have mostly experienced industrial relations as barriers to the sensible safety control measures they recommend. Frequently union and employee stances don’t make OHS sense but they make perfectly sound IR sense. It is this dichotomy that is behind those safety professionals and employers who accuse unions of “using” OHS to further industrial relations ends.