Search Results for: Safety Institute of Australia

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Sleep disorders and workplace safety – new research grant

Recently, the Australian Government awarded some research grants of which at least one is relevant to workplace safety.  $2.5 million was given for the establishment of a Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Interdisciplinary Sleep Health (CRISH). When the grant was announced Professor Ron Grunstein of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research said, “Adequate sleep is … Continue reading “Sleep disorders and workplace safety – new research grant”

Does union presence improve OHS?

The trade union movement is an important element in the management of safety in workplaces but over the last twenty years, with the exception of a couple of industry sectors, the membership numbers have waned.  Until recently in Australia, the union movement was able to maintain a level of influence in the government decision-making process … Continue reading “Does union presence improve OHS?”

Should OHS regulators be involved in the competence of professionals?

WorkSafe and the Safety Institute of Australia are at the forefront of pushing for a defined level of competence for the safety professional.  WorkSafe identified this need many years ago and has been working on establishing alliances with safety professions since then to achieve its aims. Significantly similar issues have been discussed in the United … Continue reading “Should OHS regulators be involved in the competence of professionals?”

Impressions of Australian safety

At the Safety In Action conference in Melbourne Australia, SafetyAtWorkBlog was able to catchup with John Lacey, a past President of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in England.  John has attended ten of the conferences and has some interesting comments on the conference, how Australian safety differs from the UK and who he … Continue reading “Impressions of Australian safety”

Safety conference protest

On 31 March 2009, Australian trade unionists (pictured below)  protested outside the Safety In Action Conference.   The crowd was objecting to the presence of Ms Janet Holmes a Court, the chair of  John Holland, as a keynote speaker.  As Dave Noonan, CFMEU Construction Division national secretary, put it “It is an outrage that a company … Continue reading “Safety conference protest”

Safety In Action Conference – Part One

Following two short messages from international representatives of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser AC, officially opened the Safety In Action Conference for 2009.  The Governor made several pleas or suggestions.  One was for the application of … Continue reading “Safety In Action Conference – Part One”

Death of a safety leader

Last weekend Dr Eric Wigglesworth passed away after a long illness. Eric was a strong advocate for safety education and research over decades in Australia. I heard Eric speak several times in my professional career and remember being taught about his incident theories at university.

Over the last few years his profile has increased in the public sphere as he was the (only) Australian expert on the issues related to level crossing incidents.