Over many years OHS regulators in Australia have produced guidance notes and Codes of Practice to assist businesses in addressing the hazard of workers working alone. The new model Work Heath and Safety (WHS) Regulations due to be released with several Codes on 26 September 2011 brings the serious hazard of working alone to the front of … Continue reading “Working Alone gets regulatory boost”
Safety and risk professionals often need to consider the “worst case scenario”. But we hesitate to look at the worst case scenario of workplace mental health – suicide. On 26 August 2011, Lifeline presented a seminar to Victorian public servants that was brilliant, confronting and worrying. Lifeline campaigns on suicide prevention and it seems to … Continue reading “Suicide challenges the OHS profession”
In January 2011 WorkSafe indicated its intention to prosecute the Department of Corrective Services and others in relation to death of Mr Ward. A $A285,000 penalty was imposed on 7 July 2011. SafetyAtWorkBlog reported on the WorkSafe actions at the time but an excellent clearinghouse for information on this case is the website of the … Continue reading “Government department fined $285k over prison van death”
The UK government’s Health & Safety Executive is continuously countering poor decisions of local government that are being “blamed” on health and safety. Recently the Wimbledon tennis open joined the club of misrepresenting risk decisions as health and safety. England has a unique tabloid journalism that has generated substantial confusion on the role and application of … Continue reading “Government must restructure to address the evolution of OHS”
Workplace health and safety made the front cover of the Australian Financial Review on 1 July 2011 (once the liftoff financial special cover was thrown away). When this happens there is a serious issue to be dealt with or it is a beat-up. Today’s article entitled “Danger: work safety laws just got stricter” (not accessible … Continue reading “Conservative media begins to examine new OHS laws”
Possible future OHS conversation between Person Conducting Business or Undertaking (PCBU) and an OHS Inspector or OHS professional looking at a piece of plant: PCBU: “Look at this machine, it now complies with the work health and safety laws, as far as is reasonably practicable.” OHS: “Terrific. How did you work out that the plant … Continue reading “Reasonably Practicable is more a hindrance than a help”
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”