On 9 July 2009 I wrote in SafetyAtWorkBlog “The Fair Work Act has no relevance to occupational health and safety, so why mention this on SafetyAtWorkBlog?” The Fair Work Act changes the negotiating and consultative structure of Australian workplaces stemming from changes in industrial relations law. A book that came across my desk this morning … Continue reading “An OHS look at the Fair Work book”
A survey of graduates by GradConnection released on 15 July 2009 has important information for Australian companies and provides some optimism for the OHS profession and regulators. A dominant element of modern employment is work/life balance. In some disciplines this is taken as workplace flexibility. In terms of workplace safety, work/life balance is a euphemism … Continue reading “What the next generation of graduates wants”
According to a paper presented at the latest Industrial & Organisational Psychology Conference organised by the Australian Psychological Society, poor quality emails are causing almost as much stress in the workplace as the number received. New Zealand provisional (?) psychologist, Rowena Brown, was presenting findings from her PhD studies and said “Email is a double-edged … Continue reading “More workplace stressors, email and upwards bullying”
On 3 June 2009, the Victorian Auditor-General released the audit report, CLAIMS MANAGEMENT BY THE VICTORIAN WORKCOVER AUTHORITY. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of VWA’s claims management. The report found that the current claims management model “has not substantially improved RTW [return-to-work] outcomes, or the effectiveness of agents’ case management practices” Although … Continue reading “Audit report says “could do better””
In 2001 the House of Lords was presented with a Dignity At Work Bill. This seemed a great idea for unifying different elements of the workplace that can contribute to psychosocial hazards. This would be a similar approach to using “impairment” to cover drugs, alcohol, fatigue and distraction. However, it never progressed. Regular readers of … Continue reading “Decency at work”
Not so long ago, it was considered a legitimate criticism to blame the individual for “doing the wrong thing” at work. Depending on the type of worksite, this was considered “human error” or “bloody stupid”. Fatigue is an interesting illustration of how occupational health and safety must cope with new perspectives on established hazards. Australian … Continue reading “Fatigue is the biggest threat to a person’s safety”
Mental health in the workplace is one of those recent manifestations of psychosocial hazards. It continues to evolve and during this process one is never quite sure where the best and most relevant information can be obtained. Cnfusion for the safety professional can come from new, slightly off-topic, issues that can skew the public perception … Continue reading ““Getting back on the (trauma) horse””