SafetyAtWorkBlog is mostly produced from a home office. This is principally because the type of work undertaken can be done in a domestic setting. There are thousands of small – and micro-businesses in a similar situation. Thousands of people choose to run their businesses from home. This has often been overlooked in the teleworking … Continue reading “How many Australians work from home?”
It is rare for anything of great relevance to occupational health and safety to come from the annual budget statement of the Australian government. There is nothing directly relevant from the statement issued earlier this week except for the lifting of the retirement age to 67 in 2023. Compulsory retirement age does not mean that … Continue reading “Working longer means staying healthy longer”
A United States report draws a parallel between increasingly difficult economic situations and an increase in workplace bullying. This video report is lightweight but is a recent airing of the issue with a different approach. The angle taken in the story is that of a “pink elephant” that women are just as likely to bully … Continue reading “Workplace bullying possibly increasing”
The AAP and others are reporting a big fine over the death of Lydia Carter whilst driving a go-kart at a work function held in Port Melbourne in 2006. The significance of the $A1.4 million fine is that the company, AAA Auscarts Imports Pty Ltd, is not a large or multinational corporation. Ms Carter was wearing … Continue reading “Big fine for go-kart death”
I’m a big fan of minimising the rehashing of OH&S guides. In my WorkSafe Victoria days (the latter ones when I was doing guidance material editing) I did what I could to encourage adoption of other people’s good work. And just today I found an example of a British Health & Safety Executive (HSE) guide … Continue reading “What a good safety management system looks like”
International safety attention was focused on a tiny island of the northwest Australian cost in mid-June 2008 when a pipeline exploded. Investigation reports have been presented to government and companies have regained operations after the major gas explosion that disrupted supplies across Western Australia. In early May 2009, the WA Department of Mines & Petroleum … Continue reading “Varanus Island investigations continue”
Media reports on 11 May 2009 do not provide optimism for the introduction of harmonised OHS laws in Australia. The Australian reports that the ACTU is lobbying Federal ministers over the reports into the model OHS law that are scheduled to be discussed at the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council on 18 May. The unions believe … Continue reading “Australia’s OHS harmonisation likely to fall”