Gabrielle Lis raised an issue in an article for Return To Work Matters that deserves to be seriously considered. The Australian Government is set on a path of harmonising OHS laws through the coordination role of Safe Work Australia. One of the key policies for Safe Work Australia is also to “develop proposals relating to… harmonising … Continue reading “Harmonising workers compensation”
According to an AAP report on 3 June 2009, the ACTU is forecasting action on the matter of workplace deaths. Although the issues is heartfelt and important, the Australian union movement mostly discusses OHS in relation to its opposition to the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The AAP report is a good reflection of this. … Continue reading “Union movement misdirects on OHS”
The SafetyAtWorkBlog article on OHS professional competence has generated some lively debate on a discussion forum of the American Society of Safety Engineers. Jim Leemann makes a fundamental point “Determining if someone is competent to do a job is totally different from determining if someone has mastered the competencies to do the job”. This is … Continue reading “Being competent is more than just passing the competencies”
According to the Communiqué of the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council on 18 May 2009, the following issues should be considered when drafting the new OHS legislation “Application of the primary duty of care to any person conducting a business or undertaking The panel recommends that the primary duty of care should be owed by any … Continue reading “The OHS recommendations the Australian Government rejected”
Kevin’s stuff on the latest Safe Work Australia Awards got me thinking about an issue I have had a bee in me bonnet about for a while now. It’s safety innovation, and the glaring hole in Australia for support for the hardest innovation of the lot – safety product development. By “safety product” I’m specifically … Continue reading “Safety Innovation – doing the hard yards”
Most workers meet OHS training through short courses, perhaps even inductions. Few have the time, the desire of the finances to pursue a tertiary qualification. Australia has recently achieved a uniformity in its “card system” of OHS training for construction workers. The card concept originated from the Safety Passport used in some European industries and … Continue reading “Blue Card training needs a review”
At the Safe Work Australia Awards ceremony in Canberra last week, the host Adam Spencer, noted that many of the nominees were dressed as ostentatiously as those who attend the Oscars. “Frocked-up” was the term he used. It seems to SafetyAtWorkBlog that a major element missing from these important national awards is a useful name … Continue reading “A name for the Safe Work Australia Awards”