In the aims of most of the Australian OHS legislation is “to eliminate, at the source, risks to the health, safety and welfare of employees and other persons at work…” I have written elsewhere on how this conflicts with the push for “reasonably practicable” but the need to remember this important aim was emphasised by … Continue reading “Eliminating hazards”
Every year newspapers and organisations undertake a “year in review”. OHS regulators are no different. As more statistics become available of the next few weeks, SafetyAtWorkBlog will provide the latest OHS statistics for 2008. The most recent are below. Western Australia According to a media release by WorkSafe WA: “In 2005/06, WA recorded 12 traumatic … Continue reading “Australian 2008 workplace statistics”
On 4 January 2009, the Sunday Age contained a curious article based around some quotes from Eric Windholz, acting executive director of WorkSafe Victoria. The article reports Eric as saying that when workers return to work after a holiday break they can be careless. “People come back, they’ve taken their mind off the job, they’ve had … Continue reading “Managing Safety After A Vacation”
The title of this blog is deliberately positive because I find it hard to understand why, when union right-of-entry is such a hot political topic, a New South Wales Minister would defy Federal Court action and accompany union organisers onto a construction site against the wishes of the company who operates the site. The legal … Continue reading “The right time to do something, or union shortsightedness”
On 22 August 2008, the Deputy Prime Minister and Industrial Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, released the Comparative Performance Monitoring Report (CPM) on Australia’s OHS and workers’ compensation outcomes for 2006-07. The principal points, according to the report, are: • There were 236 compensated fatalities recorded in Australia for 2006-07, of which 177 were from injury and musculoskeletal disorders … Continue reading “Latest Australian OHS statistics”
Large cranes are now a basic tool for high-rise construction. Over the last six months the United States has had several crane collapses. The latest occurred in Texas on 19 July 2008 and involved a mobile crane. The collapse resulted in four deaths and injuries to seven workers. Fed-OSHA is investigating but as this is … Continue reading “Texas Crane Collapse”
On 15 July 2008, the Australian government released the 2005-2006 Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics Australia. I am pleasantly surprised that although the number of fatalities is never at an acceptable level the trend data is very positive in terms of safety management. Some key findings and trends reported in the Compendium include: Preliminary data … Continue reading “Australian Workplace Injury Statistics”