Scandinavia has been the region of choice for many OHS and industrial relations reforms but now something has come from the other side of the world, New Zealand, which should excite OHS professionals. The Department of Labour (DoL) has released a “self-help diagnostic tool” to identify safety culture. The DoL Workplace Services Group Manager, Maarten … Continue reading “New safety culture diagnostic tool”
The recent release of a new book on Operation Mincemeat has again raised the term “yesmanship” in the media. Online definitions explain the term as “An atmosphere in which people claim to agree with leadership for political reasons, even when they don’t actually agree with leadership” . The significance of the term in relation to the current trend of “safety culture” should … Continue reading “Yesmanship – the biggest threat to safety culture”
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”
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?”
David Cameron, the leader of England’s Conservative Party, has spoken about the health and safety culture that he says is restricting personal and business options in England. In the full speech, Cameron clearly outlines an ideological agenda but it is a mistake to see this as an attack on the OHS regulator. Below is an … Continue reading “Tory leader calls for a “forensic examination” of health and safety culture”
The improved safety status in workplaces that have an active union presence has been verified through research, but what of the efforts on safety management from outside the union research efforts. Below is the abstract of an article that was published online late-2008 (and is available for purchase). The research was conducted in a country … Continue reading “Safety culture improvements in Spain”
Only a few days ago, SafetyAtWorkBlog questioned the usefulness of vision statements. A leaked internal memorandum from the structural mechanical process division of John Holland reported in the Australian media on 27 April 2009 shows just how tenuous such statements can be. According to an article in the Australian Financial Review (not available online, page … Continue reading “The tenuousness of safety culture”