The last time I spoke with Kathleen Rockefeller was in 2001 on the eve of her speaking at a conference organised by the Ergonomics Society of Australia. At that time Kathleen was a physical therapist and ergonomist within the Washington State Department of Labour & Industries. Her latest profile says that she is now in … Continue reading “Nursing home OHS – a 2001 interview with Kathleen Rockefeller”
Former Tasmanian MP, Paul Wriedt, has provided an Australian Sunday newspaper with a long article that provides the context for her suicide attempt, depression and career implosion. The full article is well worth reading and shows the combination of factors that led to her suicide attempt. Excessive workload is mentioned several times and, although it … Continue reading “Wriedt provides context of her depression”
Meditation is not on the regular agenda at SafetyAtWorkBlog. If there was time to meditate, the time would probably be spent losing weight in the gym but there is fascinating research that provides some evidence of meditation’s benefit in reducing work-related stress. At the Safety Conference in Sydney at the end of October 2009, Dr … Continue reading “Meditation is a proven stress reduction method for workplaces”
Safe Work Australia was released four statistical reports into worker health in Australia. These are important and useful reports that will assist many companies and safety professionals to better address workplace hazards. This report is a comparison of two data sets in the hope that the report provides a more accurate picture of workplace injury … Continue reading “Australian Statistics – Part 3 – Injury data comparison”
Safe Work Australia was released four statistical reports into worker health in Australia. These are important and useful reports that will assist many companies and safety professionals to better address workplace hazards. Factors affecting applications for workers’ compensation This report has identified several factors that affected the likelihood of employees making workers’ compensation claims and … Continue reading “Australian Statistics – Part 2 – Workers’ Compensation”
The city in which SafetyAtWorkBlog is edited, Melbourne, is struggling to manage a spate of street violence – some racially-based, a lot influenced by alcohol and drugs. The Age newspaper carried a feature article on 25 August 2009 discussing the concept of “restorative justice”, a concept that is barely known outside of some legal or … Continue reading “Restorative Justice and workplace fatalities – Part 1”
The Rural Health Education Foundation (RHEF) produced a DVD recently as part of its professional development program on managing trauma. It is an introduction for rural medical practitioners on how to identify trauma and how to advise on management. The video was produced in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health and is … Continue reading “Handling trauma”