Every country has its share of high-fliers who “burn out”. Many fade away from the public eye with their careers over. Frequently this path to wealth and prominence is not perceived as a workplace health or safety matter. Some people decide that the health trade-off of multi-million dollar salaries is worth it. Sadly the psychological … Continue reading “Maintain instead of repair”
The Australian media has been abuzz over the last couple of days on several issues concerning violence. Attention increases whenever there is video involved and the latest film of a bashing in Melbourne in a Hungry Jack’s store in the early hours of 13 July 2009 is getting a considerable run. Most commentators are taking … Continue reading “Occupational violence in fast food restaurants and petrol stations”
A new Australian report estimates the total costs of heart attack and chest pain (Acute Coronary Syndrome or ACS) to the Australian economy – “total economic cost of $17.9 billion.” This Access Economics report, released in June 2009, has broad application for public policy but has some relevant information for safety and health management in the … Continue reading “The economic costs of a heart attack”
According to a paper presented at the latest Industrial & Organisational Psychology Conference organised by the Australian Psychological Society, poor quality emails are causing almost as much stress in the workplace as the number received. New Zealand provisional (?) psychologist, Rowena Brown, was presenting findings from her PhD studies and said “Email is a double-edged … Continue reading “More workplace stressors, email and upwards bullying”
I bought tickets to the Jane Woollard play Prophet & Loss in almost total ignorance of the play and, as a result, sat in the old church on a cold Winter’s night wondering what I was in for. The program was detailed but I hadn’t time to read it. I knew the play was about … Continue reading “Prophet and Loss – review”
In April 2002, I interviewed Lawrence Lorber of US law firm Proskauer Rose on workplace bullying. It was at the height of the Enron collapse and corporate behaviour towards staff was gaining a lot of attention. Over the last fortnight I have been researching some of the management books and concepts concerning leadership, emotional intelligence, … Continue reading “Workplace bullying – interview with Lawrence Lorber (2002)”
Part 2 of Risk & Reason book review from SafetyAtWork magazine 2003 Sunstein closes the chapter “Thinking About Risks” with a short reference to September 11 2001 with which he says that “acts of terrorism show an acute appreciation of the psychological phenomena..” Throughout the book, there are snippets that can be related to safety … Continue reading “Cass Sunstein, Risk, Cost-Benefit and OHS – Part 2”