The public comment phase of Australia’s review of its OHS law harmonisation process begins in September 2009. To a large degree it is at this stage that the stakeholders can start refining their horse-trading. It will also be interesting to watch as the distraction of the new industrial relations legislation has gone since that … Continue reading “Who is all this OHS harmonisation for?”
The National Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation at the Australian National University is one of the few Australian research centres who provide free access to their data. The number is growing but is still way behind institutions overseas. The latest research report they have released concerns management-based regulations as opposed to prescriptive … Continue reading “New OHS research on the limits of management based regulation”
There seems to be new institutes and academic schools popping up regularly over research into the issue of work/life balance. Recently one of the oldest and most prominent of the institutes, the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia, released new research data. The latest Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) was … Continue reading “New Work/Life Research”
Sometime ago SafetyAtWorkBlog wrote that “engagement” was just a new term for “consultation”. Rebadging or rebranding occurs in the safety discipline as much as any other but our internet ears pricked up at some recent comments in a Canadian podcast from Safety Excellence. Shawn Galloway and Terry of ProACT Safety is discussing traditional approaches to … Continue reading “Behavioural-based safety is no different to traditional safety management”
I have experienced two situations recently which made me question the value of corporate mission statements. Recently the CEO of an Australian company spoke about how safety was a core value and how committed to safety she was. She is a recognised leader in safety and directly involves herself in safety management and meetings. … Continue reading “Vision statements = hypocrisy (mostly)”
Recently an international business established an intranet discussion forum concerning “employee engagement”. By and large, this is another example of business management twaddle. Essentially, when one engages with another, there is discussion, a conversation and the sharing of ideas in a cooperative, positive manner. In OHS circles this is called “consultation”. By discussing issues, people … Continue reading “Engagement is Consultation re-badged”
Since the 2006 rockfall at Beaconsfield Mine in Tasmania, the public has received limited information. There have been books about the rescue of two workers and the Coroner’s inquest into the death of Larry Knight. Greg Mellick undertook an investigation into the rockfall and found that noone was to blame for the rockfall. Many workplace … Continue reading “Why won’t the Tasmanian government release the OHS report into the Beaconsfield mine collapse?”