The latest OHS podcast from Boardroom Radio reinforces the need to enforce company policies. The impliacation is that it is very easy to equate legislative compliance with the existence of a policy instead of the implementation of a policy. The need to keep polices and procedures simple was mentioned but there is the risk that brevity does not … Continue reading “The risk of being over-policied”
On 21 May 2010, Boardroom Radio (BRR) released a podcast on workplace bullying that includes opinions from some worthy speakers. Andrew Douglas, Managing Director at Douglas LPT; Wayne Blair, Fair Work Australia Commissioner; Gail Hubble, Barrister; and Anna Palmer, HR Consultant, at Provenio Consulting Some of the questions are a little peculiar such as whether current generations are more “vulnerable” to bullying. … Continue reading “Australian roundtable podcast on workplace bullying”
The New York Times reported on 17 May 2010 that psychologists have started considering the causes of workplace stress. About time! The report says that “Employees are unhappy about the design of their jobs, the health of their organizations and the quality of their managers..” and that unhappy workers have a high risk of heart attacks and depression. … Continue reading “Looking for the causes of workplace harm can change one’s world view”
A curious workplace safety and industrial relations issue has appeared in the Golden Circle factory in Queensland as reported in the Courier-Mail. 57-year-old forklift driver, Lance Pedersen has been sacked because he was found to be morbidly obese and with osteoarthritis in his knees. The newspaper article raises many personnel management issues and there are sure to be more issues that … Continue reading “Eliminate the safety risk – sack the worker”
Dr Yossi Berger of the Australian Workers Union has been reading some of the debate in SafetyAtWorkBlog and offered the article below for publication. He said to SafetyAtWorkBlog “…in relation to BP’s OHS catastrophes and comments about their management style, their managers and this aspirational, easily-bandied-about notion of workplace culture. Two things stimulated me to … Continue reading “The Astonished Manager: Not in my wildest dreams”
In 2008, a New South Wales Parliamentary Committee reported to the Government on problems with that State’s Ambulance Services. The problems included bullying, harassment and a dysfunctional management. A review into the Ambulance Services progress on the recommendations two years later has found : “…the general feedback received from ambulance officers is that despite the new initiatives, little has changed, and significant management and … Continue reading “The struggle to achieve cultural change on OHS”
In a closely guarded secret, New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally attended the safety conference of the New South Wales Minerals Council. Keneally (pictured right) had previous attended NSWMC functions but in her capacity as the, then, Planning Minister. Her speech contained a fair amount of politicking as one would expect from a politician in an election year but regrettably safety got … Continue reading “NSW Premier surprise guest at mining safety conference dinner”