One reader has provided an example of recent research that supports the previous SafetyAtWorkBlog article on the importance of quality and safety in job creation. In the March 2011 online edition of the Occupational & Environmental Medicine journal, Australian researchers have analysed data concerning “the psychosocial quality of work”. According to an accompanying media release … Continue reading “Evidence on the need for safe job design”
Australian business is soon to be required to apply the concept of “due diligence” to occupational health and safety. One would have expected the agency that is coordinating the changes to provide detailed guidance on what is expected from “due diligence”. That is not the case and so, inevitably, lawyers have stepped in (some stepped … Continue reading “One person’s red tape is another’s due diligence”
In March 2011, in response to one of the several Stress Awareness Days, HRLeader magazine ran an edited version of a Personnel Today article called “5 steps to tackle employee stress”. The Personnel Today had “6 steps”, so are Australian readers being ripped off? Personnel Today included a step called “Refer the Health and Safety … Continue reading “Raising awareness about stress instead of controlling it”
Australian lawyer Andrew Douglas has provided a frank assessment of the OHS harmonisation process instigated by the Australian government to reduce red tape and administrative costs of safety. In Smart Company on 1 March 2011, Douglas wrote: “…the Model Act, the regulations and documents that flow from it will dramatically increase state-based businesses legislative compliance, … Continue reading “OHS harmonisation to result in a substantial increase in costs to business”
The debate on OHS laws will be passionate in the pre-election frenzy of New South Wales but the OHS law reform is a national strategy and the safety debate is not asleep in the other States. On 11 February 2011, AAP ran an article about the long-lasting familial and social effects a horrible workplace incident in South Australia … Continue reading “Important OHS and legal issues in findings of South Australian Coroner into young man’s death”
Australia’s Comcare was the first of the OHS regulators to provide an information session on Australia’s attempts to harmonise its OHS laws across many different jurisdictions and industry sectors. The Melbourne seminar on 7 February 2011 could have been presented better but some useful information was available. Content – Inspectorate The most significant OHS information to come … Continue reading “Good Comcare content on effects of OHS harmonisation”
The awarding of safety awards by government OHS authorities in Australia have needed reviewing for some time. There remains inconsistencies on the openness of the judging processes and differences in award categories. In 2009, John Holland’s award nomination was withdrawn and now, according to the a video report on TV program Today Tonight in Adelaide, another safety award has been withdrawn. … Continue reading “Harsco’s safety award rescinded due to anomalies in injury claims data”