I often have my “western” assumptions punctured by evidence from the non-western or majority world. Recently SafetyAtWorkBlog has reported on workplace suicide statistics but a report made available through the World Health Organisation says “Low-income countries in Asia and the Pacific have the highest burden of suicide in the world. These countries are among the poorest globally, and … Continue reading “Suicide research and cultural change”
On 21 September 2010, Radio Australia’s regular program Australia Talks conducted a live interview concerning occupational safety and health. For those who have been listening to the show for some time would have been surprised that the program covered much of the same old OHS ground. Similar statistics, similar questions of what are the most dangerous occupations, similar … Continue reading “Radio National OHS program”
In response to a recent post about Workplace Suicides, Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson provided a lengthy comment that I believe deserves a post of its own: The hardest funeral to say “a few words” at is the funeral of a suicide victim. The hardest thing to do is look into the hearts of the family and friends of the person … Continue reading “WorkCover and Suicides”
Workplace suicides are in the news at the moment due to Foxconn and, to a lesser extent, France Telecome. There is enough media attention for companies to start to evaluate their own risk exposures. Through LinkedIn, Tom Boudreau of R&R Insurance Services, issued the following advice under the title “Do Employers Have a Duty to Prevent Workplace … Continue reading “Suicide advice shows reactive thinking”
Adam Sage has been following the suicides that have occurred in France Telecome for some time. On 23 September 2009 in the TimesOnline (a week later in The Australian newspaper??), Sage provides a useful summary and cogitation on the “cluster”. But although this number of suicides in one company should be alarming, it is not … Continue reading “23rd suicide at France Telecome in 18 months”
Preliminary data on workplace fatalities was released recently by the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program in the United States. Economic pressures have reduced the size of the workforce which, the data indicates, decreased fatalities. Good news in one way but only status quo if one is looking at long-term trends or for some benefit … Continue reading “US workplace fatality statistics – 2008”