Management – Page 17 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

OHS law reform should not rely on Courts for clarification

Since the early 1970’s OHS law has been “de-lawyer-fied”. The intention of the law is to empower workers and employers to manage safety in the workplace to meet basic human rights – the right not to be injured at work, the obligation not to hurt others. Good law allows for the basic legislative tenets to be readily understood. Poor law is difficult to understand and leads to increased business and personal costs in order to determine compliance.

I would argue that Australia’s recent aim of the national harmonisation of OHS laws will lead to complexity and cost – the opposite of what was intended – and a disempowerment of the workforce as the legal imperative overrides the safety management obligation. The major weakness in the law is its seeming reliance on the Courts to clarify the laws, their application and their relevance.

Legal commentators on the laws have stated publicly that the impact of the law will not be clear for several years and that many questions about the laws will only be answered when prosecutions are brought and the Courts hand down decisions. This process is sloppy, should not be accepted unquestionably by OHS professionals and does almost nothing to help the vast majority of Australian businesses to comply. Continue reading “OHS law reform should not rely on Courts for clarification”

A gut feeling for workplace risk

We all do it, we use language to both inform and at times mislead. However, when the latter happens in the field of OHS it can be a very damaging to standards. I’d like to draw attention to one such (class of) circumstance but I’m not sure that the very language I need to use as demonstration will be acceptable within this communication domain.

Some years back I tried to provide a means for linguistic interaction between some academic language and that of workers. I hoped that parcels of theory and practice could interact to highlight strengths and weaknesses, as a kind of OHS reality check. Once a word or a concept is understood communication has only started as an approximation. I was trying to allude to other, subtler tools of language that must also be understood. For example, it’s important to take note of tone, irony, sarcasm, analogy and metaphor. These are all tools used in ordinary conversations, they not only deliver information, but may in fact provide pointers to essential meanings intended. It’s hardly news to state that even a pause or a comma can make all the difference. Try, “What is this thing called ‘Love’?” and “What is this thing called, Love?”

I asked a worker on a large demolition project (that within a year killed a man) how good was the local OHS system and how well was it supported by management. The response was less than enthusiastic. I then tried to get a sense for actual OHS practice, I needed a real example. I asked this measured, neck-tattooed forklift operator of about 56 how he decided what size and type of forklift to use for which load. Was there a policy? Was there a standard operating procedure (SOP)? Was there any written document…….. or what? He was sitting at the time in one of the heavy forklifts on the site, a large machine about to lift and shift a huge load. Continue reading “A gut feeling for workplace risk”

Psychological advice on handling people that is broadly applicable

The latest edition of Lawyers Weekly includes an article ostensibly about managing bullies in the legal profession written by psychologist, Dr Chris Day. The article provides some general tips, though, that are useful to any of us who need to make decisions refreshingly she reflects two options that I offer to my OHS clients on safety matters that do not include bullying. Dr Day says that any problem can be solved by these actions

“Leave…

Change the situation…

Accept the situation…

Do nothing….”

Leave and change are included in the OHS Hierarchy of Control under different terminology. Doing nothing is advice that few OHS consultants will give but is a strategy that many small businesses apply. Their risk management strategy is to press their luck and in some cases this can work. Continue reading “Psychological advice on handling people that is broadly applicable”

Career fitness program for police has wider impacts

Australian newspapers reported that Victoria Police will be applying fitness criteria not only to police recruits but throughout their career. Other than giving headline writers the chance for puns about “thin blue lines”, the coverage raises the long existing issue over fit-for-duty.

Workplace health and fitness is not a new issue of Victoria Police. It used Body Mass Index as an assessment criteria in 2009 and has politely motivated police to increase their fitness for years. Other emergency services, such as the fire brigades, have had gyms and other programs but the nature of the industry allowed for stations that incorporated living and exercise facilities. Shift rosters and the patrol duties of police never allowed the same options.

Nor is this an Australian phenomenon. South Africa instigated a similar fitness regime in March 2010. In a terrific media grab, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele is reported to have said:

“Police officers should be able to walk with their heads held high, their stomach in, and chest out – not the other way around….” Continue reading “Career fitness program for police has wider impacts”

OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome

OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome[i]

– Poverty of Expectations –

The Japanese attack on US forces at Pearl Harbour in the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday 7^th December 1941 was a military disaster for the US described as a totally unforseen and unforeseeable attack. It shocked the American people and brought the US into WWII (essentially the next day). The element of total surprise (‘Why were our forces so ‘unexpecting’ and unprepared?’) was defended with the implication that, ‘we were still negotiating with the government of Japan and its Emperor in good faith’ and there was no state of war between the two nations. In a speech to congress the next day President Franklin Roosevelt called it, “… a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan”.

Controversy surrounds various aspects of the attack[ii] but it has become synonymous with surprise and astonishment. However, research over the years suggests that in fact it was preceded by a large number of misunderstood or ignored warnings and missed signs. The reason these were so completely missed, according to one scholar, is because of ‘poverty of expectations’ – routine attention to the obvious and reduced horizons for imaginative projections. Continue reading “OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome”

Safety Cases must become a reality in the US

Some of the media, over the weekend, was critical of BP for not applying a Safety Case to the BP/Deepwater horizon oil rig. The Safety Case is an established method of assessing risk in high-hazard organisations and should have been applied. Whether such a technique would have made any difference is debatable as it is hypothetical.

Safety Case regimes have proven effective and are used as a default risk setting in many corporations but the story is not only one of a specific Safety Case missed opportunity. BP is an example of corporate hypocrisy that supports the cynicism of the community to large corporations whose actions do not reflect their commitment. Continue reading “Safety Cases must become a reality in the US”

Another Australia emergency organisation faces bullying claims

Emergency service organisations, like the military, are susceptible to accusations of bullying due to the hierarchical command structure on which they are based.

For decades this type of structure has been seen as a requirement for efficient emergency response or other activities under tight timelines and high expectations. It would not take much to perceive one’s supervisor saying “move it, move it, move it” or similar, over time as a repeated insult and, being repeated, an instance of bullying.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is reporting on claims by the former president of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Board (MFB), Adrian Nye, who was stood down in April 2010. The ABC says Nye has accused the MFB of having a culture of bullying.

CEO Graeme Fountain has called in KPMG to investigate Nye’s claims.

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the hierarchical command structure is no longer compatible with contemporary expectations of respect, health, safety or wellbeing. Continue reading “Another Australia emergency organisation faces bullying claims”

Tag: Management

OHS law reform should not rely on Courts for clarification

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A gut feeling for workplace risk

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Psychological advice on handling people that is broadly applicable

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Career fitness program for police has wider impacts

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OHS: The Pearl Harbour Syndrome

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Safety Cases must become a reality in the US

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Another Australia emergency organisation faces bullying claims

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