In support of the recent SafetyAtWorkBlog article “Detention Royal Commission touches on workplace safety”, WorkSafe NT was contacted with a series of questions about the role of the Northern Territory’s occupational health and safety (OHS) regulator in detention centres. Those questions comprised: • Has WorkSafe ever undertaken any inspection activities at detention centres in the …
Earlier this month SafetyAtWorkBlog published an article based on an anecdote by Todd Conklin about a glove. There was much more that Conklin shared at the SafeGuard conference in New Zealand. Below are several of his slides/aphorisms/questions that may challenge the way you think about managing occupational health and safety (OHS) in your workplace....
The latest broadcast in Safe Work Australia’s Virtual Safety Seminar (VSS) series is aimed at the executive level of management and entitled “Why big business needs to lead work health and safety“. One of the attractions of the VSS is that Safe Work Australia is able to draw upon senior and prominent business leaders who do …
Over the last couple of weeks in Australia, the arguments over the safety of quad bikes (sometimes called All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)) has become messy. The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) is in favour of Operator Protection Devices (OPDs) but the Victorian Farmers’ Federation (VFF) is not. Doctors and farmers are calling for a five-start safety rating … Continue reading “Quad bike safety gets messy – disagreements, Supreme Court writs and stars”
Two recent occupational health and safety (OHS) prosecutions in South Australia related to labour hire employees and providers indicate changes in enforcement approach and clues for change as they illustrate how some people and companies have almost no regard for the safety of its employees. According to a SafeWorkSA media release dated 28 May 2016 … Continue reading “Miserable failures in OHS of labour hire workers”
In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Douglas Adams has a character tell a story of a ship of middle managers being sent from a supposedly doomed plant to colonise a new world. The ‘B’ Ark contains millions of “Hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, management consultants,….” … Continue reading “Are OHS professionals on the ‘B’ Ark?”
Workplace safety can have a bizarre logic. A recent example can be seen in the continuing controversy about the deaths of two workers on a construction site in Western Australia. In November 2015 two workers Joe McDermott and Gerard Bradley were crushed to death by a concrete slab while on a break at a Jaxon Construction site …