This weekend the Australian people voted for the conservative Liberal Party to be the next Federal government. Workplace safety has been largely absent from the pre-election campaign but when it has been mentioned it has almost always been couched in terms of productivity. In the next few years, workplace safety issues must be couched … Continue reading “New political challenges for OHS in Australia”
Victorian Workcover Authority (VWA),was in the pages of the Australian Financial Review in July 2013 over several issues – CEO Denise Cosgrove told staff of her wonderful holiday in Daylesford in the same email in which she advised of a review of operating budgets “including people costs” and of job losses, Former Minister for Workcover, … Continue reading “A busy week in Victoria – politics, reviews and common law”
In recent weeks on several LinkedIn discussion forums there has been a series of highly critical postings about the Safety Institute of Australia. (I have participated in some of the discussions.) Many comments have been unfair but almost all decry the absence of clear communication from the SIA and the very low profile of the organisation within Australia. The SIA has struggled … Continue reading “The Safety Institute’s low profile needs to be seen in a media context”
According to an official budget speech by Victoria’s Treasurer, Kim Wells, the State will not be enacting the model Work Health and Safety laws. Under the subheading “A Stronger Victoria” (page 14), the Treasurer states “The Government will not sign up to the current proposal for harmonised legislation for occupational health and safety. It offers little … Continue reading “Victoria bows out of OHS harmonisation”
In relation to the new harmonised laws in Australia Amy Towers recently stated in a media release that “Many employers still haven’t got it quite right. While most have an understanding of their new health and safety responsibilities, we’re finding the practices they do have in place don’t sufficiently meet the new compliance requirements – … Continue reading “Inductions, technology and effectiveness”
Recently SafetyAtWorkBlog suggested the need for a new approach to OHS advertising. Around the same time the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) launched the latest stage of its lobbying campaign against one of Australia’s largest mining companies, and a longtime target for unions, BHP BIlliton. This time the CFMEU connects the Pike River … Continue reading “Australian union campaigns on mine safety using Pike River mother”
Only a few days ago, SafetyAtWorkBlog questioned the usefulness of vision statements. A leaked internal memorandum from the structural mechanical process division of John Holland reported in the Australian media on 27 April 2009 shows just how tenuous such statements can be. According to an article in the Australian Financial Review (not available online, page … Continue reading “The tenuousness of safety culture”