Last week the Queensland Government proposed changing some of the health and safety laws that relate to mining. Changes to occupational health and safety (OHS) laws that improve workplace safety are almost always welcome, but to some extent these recent changes are “catch-up”. The Government’s media statement of the proposed laws is very positive and the …
The recently appointed Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Sally McManus, made a major speech at the National Press Club on 21 March 2018. It was forecast to lots of media outlets the morning prior to the speech with selected quotes from McManus, flagging how significant the trade union movements consider this speech. …
The annual Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) breakfast was held in conjunction with Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) law firm on 21 February 2018. This year the audience heard from two representatives of WorkSafe Victoria – Marnie Williams, the Executive Director and Paul Fowler, the Director of the Enforcement Group. The WorkSafe presentations were interesting but included …
Several past SafetyAtWorkBlog articles have been posted in SoundCloud as audio files. One article is a reading of two articles from last year about Queensland’s industrial manslaughter laws. The other reminds us that sexual harassment and sexual assault did not appear in relation to Harvey Weinstein accusations. The Australian Human Rights Commission report into sexual … Continue reading “Two new audio readings”
Episode 5 of Safety At Work Talks podcast contains a chat with safety lawyer and partner with Clyde & Co, Alena Titterton. The conversation touches on safety issues like industrial manslaughter, dealing with police at an incident, certification to safety standards, safety in procurement, and small business. It was also good to hear her talk … Continue reading “Titterton talks safety”
Last week in Sydney and Melbourne law firm Clyde & Co conducted seminars reviewing 2017 through the workplace health and safety perspective. Alena Titterton (pictured right) hosted the Melbourne event which did not follow the proposed topics, but it was friendly and informative, and covered a lot of ground. This article focuses on the statistics …
The occupational safety profession (OHS) in Australia is often described as being populated by older white males, as being dull and ill-informed. This perception has generated offshoots such as Women in Safety and Health, and Young Safety Professionals (YSP) with similar actions occurring in many other professions. It is easier than ever to develop professional …