government – Page 53 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?

If safety culture is set and developed by leaders, what does it mean when a Prime Minister launches a scheme that places the creation of jobs over the need for worker safety?

Two days before International Workers’ Memorial Day, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners program analyses the failed insulation scheme initiated by the Australian Government in 2009.

According to the Four Corners website:

“Four Corners takes a forensic look at a chain of events that began with so many good intentions but ended in death and political humiliation. What exactly were the warnings given to the Department of Environment and the Minister Peter Garrett? Why did senior officials inside the Department reject safety concerns, preferring to play up the job creation aspects of the program?”

An audio preview of the Four Corners is available online. In that interview a whistleblower from the Department of the Environment states that

“..we were told that safety was of less importance than job creation.” Continue reading “If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?”

How revolutionary could the Work Health and Safety Act be?

In April 2010, the Australian Government is busy negotiating a new health reform package. It is likely that the next stage of the reforms will be in the Australian Senate which brings Nick Xenophon into the negotiations. On 21 April 2010, The Australian reported Xenophon saying:

“…he had “an open mind” on the deal brokered by the Prime Minister yesterday but wanted to ensure it had a strong emphasis on preventative health, which was the ultimate “test of the health system”.”

Senator, Nick Xenophon, provides a good example of how personal ideals cross social boundaries and professional disciplines. His focus on the prevention of harm covers public safety and workplace safety illustrates the interconnection that an ethical stance can bring social issues that are governed under different laws and expectations. Continue reading “How revolutionary could the Work Health and Safety Act be?”

Australian safety conference – confused but in a good way

Day 2 of the Safety In Action Conference is almost over and I am confused. Some speakers say that safety cannot be improved without commitment from the most senior executives of a company. Others are saying that safety improvement can be best achieved by trusting employees.

One speaker questioned the validity of the risk management approach to safety. A colleague argued that this was not a return to prescriptive legislation, regulation and codes of practice but an opportunity for companies to assess their needs and set their own “rules” of compliance based on the risk assessment results, effectively determining their own level of OHS compliance.

Another speaker speculated that a particular Federal Minister may have been prosecuted under the model Work Health & Safety Act if Ministers had not been excluded from their duty of care.

Some see new the OHS laws as revolutionary, others see it as tweaking a legislative approach that is over 30 years old.

Some speakers I found thought-provoking, others thought these were facile and had lousy PowerPoint skills.

What this Safety In Action Conference in Australia has not been is dull. Continue reading “Australian safety conference – confused but in a good way”

The fragility of evidence – suicide example

Workplace fatality data is an essential ingredient in benchmarking safety performance for business and government. Suicide statistics are equally important in the social and public health context.

The editorial in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia has some interesting comments on how suicide statistics have been collected in Australia over the last decade.

“….a great deal of caution must be employed when interpreting trends in suicide in Australia during the past decade, Continue reading “The fragility of evidence – suicide example”

Ergonomics of quad bikes – new research

While the New Zealand government is investigating agricultural safety issues, researchers from the University of Otago have looked at the ergonomic issues associated with the loss of control (LOC) of quad bikes by drivers.

According to a University of Otago media release, researchers Dr Stephan Milosavljevic and Dr Allan Carman published a paper in the current edition of Ergonomics. The researchers

“….set out to analyse the driving behaviour of people who regularly use quad bikes, recognising a need to find out why people lose control of them so frequently.

Of the 30 male rural workers and farmers studied, 19 of them, or 63 percent, had experienced loss of control on a quad bike. They were in their mid 40s on average, and about eight to nine years younger and less experienced than those who did not lose control. Continue reading “Ergonomics of quad bikes – new research”

Compensation denied because police officers only saw the aftermath of fatal incident

In 2003, emergency responders attended a major rail incident at Waterfall in New South Wales, in which multiple passengers were injured and seven died. According to a 14 April 2010 article in The Australian (page 7, not yet(?) available online):

“The officers [David Wicks and Philip Sheehan] were among the first at the scene of the crash that killed seven people, including the driver, who lost control of the train after he had a heart attack”.

Those officers have been denied compensation under the NSW Civil Liability Act because

“they did not witness the crash, only its aftermath.”

Both police officers had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and been medically discharged.

Their claim for compensation has now reached the High Court of Australia Continue reading “Compensation denied because police officers only saw the aftermath of fatal incident”

BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine

On 12 April 2010, the electronic media (video report available) reported a fatality at a BHP Billiton mine in Western Australia where

“a truck plunged 18 metres down a shaft at the Perseverance nickel mine near Leinster.”

Newspapers on 13 April 2010 have provided further details. The 45-year old man, Wayne Ross, was operating a “bogger” at the time. A profile of a bogger operator is available HERE. which reads

“Being a Bogger Operator is a very physically demanding job. You need to operate heavy excavators in dark damp conditions, however you will be well rewarded for this. Some Bogger operators can earn around $80,000 a year.”

The Leinster mine has been the site of several deaths since 2006. Four workers have died on BHP Billiton mine sites since July 2009.

The Age reports that the bogger the worker “was driving fell almost 20 metres down the mine shaft” and it took around 18 hours to retrieve his body. Continue reading “BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine”

Tag: government

If safety culture begins at the top, what message is the Australian Government sending on insulation installer deaths?

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How revolutionary could the Work Health and Safety Act be?

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Australian safety conference – confused but in a good way

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The fragility of evidence – suicide example

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Ergonomics of quad bikes – new research

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Compensation denied because police officers only saw the aftermath of fatal incident

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BHP Billiton has another mining fatality at Leinster mine

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