Tag: CEO

Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch

A regular SafetyAtWorkBlog reader emailed in a comment this morning that we believe is justified as including it as a post itself.  The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster is out of the news outside of the United States but as the Australian reader shows below, there are important lessons from how this disaster occurred and its aftermath as there is in most disasters.  What needs to occur is for the issues to continue to be discussed and lessons applied.  Some links in the post below have been added.

“I’ve been following the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster West Virginia, in which 29 miners died from an explosion that occurred on 5 April 2010. It appears that the explosion occurred due to a build up of methane and coal dust in the mine.  Records show that, in the weeks leading up to the explosion, some miners had expressed fears for their lives to their families.  One left a note for his family. To my thinking it reads like a suicide note. Continue reading “Post-Disaster PR/Risk Management – Upper Big Branch”

NSW Premier surprise guest at mining safety conference dinner

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 less attention than one would expect.  The Premier spoke more generally about her government’s achievements under her leadership and how she was able to set, and enforce, clear performance benchmarks in the previous Planning portfolio.

Dr Nikki Williams NSWMC spoke very highly of the minister, as one would expect, but had to tread a fine line in complements so that she would not be seen as endorsing the Premier in an election year.  Williams instead praised the person and praised very highly.  Clearly there is a mutual respect between the two women that could proceed into a useful business/political relationship. Continue reading “NSW Premier surprise guest at mining safety conference dinner”

Mining safety conference is shadowed by taxation debate

As there was in the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, there is a third member in the relationship at the New South Wales Mining Council (NSWMC) conference that is being held in the Hunter Valley this week – the Government’s response to the Henry review into Australia’s taxation scheme.

The CEO of NSWMC, Dr Nikki Williams has been interviewed repeatedly at the conference with workplace safety being the opening line from reporters before asking about Henry.  Only 24 hours after the release of the Government’s response very little detail can be expected from an interview.  By lunchtime Williams’ responses were polished as she outlined the potentials – mine closures, economic damage to regional towns……  The reality of the taxation changes to the mining sector is not really going to be understood for several more days.  Any direct impact on safety is highly unlikely.

Sadly safety is not getting much consideration in the media discussions however there are potentials in this conference that could extend well beyond the mining industry. Continue reading “Mining safety conference is shadowed by taxation debate”

Bank CEO says he ‘can’t really have work-life balance’

Mike Smith, Chief Executive Officer of the ANZ Bank provided some insights into his life as a senior executive at a conference in Sydney on 21 April 2010.  The most exciting information was a brief description of the assassination attempt on his life while working in South America but, in the context of health and safety, he also reveals a few nuggets of information.

Smith’s conference presentation was reported in the Australian Financial Review (article only available to subscribers) on 22 April 2010.  He states as a CEO “you can’t really have work-life balance”. Continue reading “Bank CEO says he ‘can’t really have work-life balance’”

New business safety survey released at safety conference

New survey data on business attitudes to safety was revealed at the Safety In Action Conference on 20 April 2010.  The data was released jointly by the Australian Institute of Management and the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA).

In short there was not much that was new in the survey data but the survey was important for several reasons. Continue reading “New business safety survey released at safety conference”

Important lessons from France Telecom suicide investigations

On 9 April 2010, according to media reports, an investigating magistrate was appointed to investigate the more than 30 suicides that have occurred in the France Telecom (FT) workforce.

This follows the November 2009 court finding that management policy could generate harassment.

An inspectors report in February 2010 identified that “pathogenic” management methods were applied to achieve a job reduction target of  22,000 between 2006 and 2008.

Significantly one media report says that suicides are continuing in the workforce with ten occurring since the start of 2010.

An Associated Press report on 12 April 2010 quotes a union lawyer:

“At one time, there was an intention to create a sense of frustration so employees would leave. The problem was that it worked too well…” Continue reading “Important lessons from France Telecom suicide investigations”

Information flow is critical for sound Board decisions on OHS

Peter Arthur, a Partner with Australian law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson, spoke on Boardroom Radio on 1 April 2010 about new duties that national OHS laws will place on Directors.

Although there are six elements in the new general duty, Arthur says that they all can come under the category of “information flow”.   Continue reading “Information flow is critical for sound Board decisions on OHS”

© Workplace Safety Services P/L (ABN: 68091088621) and SafetyAtWorkBlog, 2008-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Jones and SafetyAtWorkBlog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Concatenate Web Development
© Designed and developed by Concatenate Aust Pty Ltd