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”
I often have my “western” assumptions punctured by evidence from the non-western or majority world. Recently SafetyAtWorkBlog has reported on workplace suicide statistics but a report made available through the World Health Organisation says “Low-income countries in Asia and the Pacific have the highest burden of suicide in the world. These countries are among the poorest globally, and … Continue reading “Suicide research and cultural change”
Since the early 1970’s OHS law has been “de-lawyer-fied”. The intention of the law is to empower workers and employers to manage safety in the workplace to meet basic human rights – the right not to be injured at work, the obligation not to hurt others. Good law allows for the basic legislative tenets to … Continue reading “OHS law reform should not rely on Courts for clarification”
For years Australian OHS legislation has focused on establishing a “safe system of work”. This focus is inclusive and is an understandable approach to safety regulation but it has also generated a fair share of confusion. If a business does not have a documented safety management system, does it have a system of work? Yes … Continue reading “A safe (social) system of work”
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”
A regular SafetyAtWorkBlog reader emailed in a comment this morning that we believe is justified as including it as a post itself. The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster is out of the news outside of the United States but as the Australian reader shows below, there are important lessons from how this disaster occurred and its aftermath as there is … Continue reading “Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch”
“….I would ….suggest that government (as employer and dutyholder, and as policy maker) can, and should, be an exemplar of OHS best practice. By taking the lead in the systematic management of occupational health and safety, government can influence the behaviour of individuals and firms upon whom duties are imposed by the OHS legislation.” In 2004, … Continue reading “Minister says public service safety performance is lamentable”