Such are the warning signs It stopped at 2.32 pm of an ordinary day. One string of events ended abruptly at the pinch point of a groaning conveyor belt when his arm was ripped off. Do you think of Swiss cheese models of risk alignment? Of complexity or failure to learn? Of the Moura coal … Continue reading “The smell of ‘corruption’”
Workplace safety apps are a fairly new addition to smart technologies and they are of variable quality and application. Below is a quick review of some. Glossary One of the earliest OHS-related apps and most basic was Derek Viner‘s Safety101. This is essentially nothing more than a glossary of risk and safety terminology. It has not been … Continue reading “Workplace safety apps reviewed”
There was a brief ABC report from Western Australia on 12 November 2011 about a young man receiving serious burns from an industrial explosion. Information is scant on this incident in the press but SafetyAtWorkBlog has been told that the incident occurred at drinks after work. As the incident is not considered related to work, … Continue reading “Explosive near-miss deserves safety investigation”
More often than not people are disappointed by the sentences handed out by Courts on OHS breaches. Even with sentencing guidelines, the ultimate decision rests with the judgement of the Court. Today’s $A84,000 fine against Santos Ltd appears low considering that the incident had the potential to be catastrophic and the company has just reported … Continue reading “Santos slapped with stale celery over near-miss”
Workplace fatalities are terrible, lingering tragedies that generally don’t teach anything new about OHS failures. I couldn’t find anything new in the frightening detail in the article below (dated 14th December 2010) or in scores of Google searches of industrial/occupational fatalities; though disease fatality epidemiology can be informative. If all workplace fatalities in Australia were … Continue reading “How much significant information do workplace fatalities provide?”
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 160,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at … Continue reading “2010 in review – SafetyAtWorkBlog”
The smoke from the mine: It has been a frighteningly bad month in the mining industry internationally. OHS meetings I attended during this period have been hushed as a result of the New Zealand tragedies. Discussions about OHS have become more pertinent and more accurate – for the time being. But this, like stunning but … Continue reading “Of stunning, short-lived cactus flowers and quad bikes”