On the eve of International Workers Memorial Day, I attended a seminar about the management of fatalities and serious injuries conducted by a group of risk management and insurance agents. Prevention was not on the agenda which led to some surprising statements.
Last year Professor Andrew Hopkins‘ contribution to occupational health and safety (OHS) was celebrated in Australia. At the event, a publisher was promoting Hopkins’ upcoming autobiography. The book is not an autobiography, it is better.
The book is called “Quiet Outrage – The Way of a Sociologist” and was released in March 2016. Don’t be surprised if you have not heard of this new release. The publisher, Wolters Kluwer, seems to have done next to nothing to promote this book even though Hopkins’ works have been a major seller for the company. Hopkins writes that 90,000 copies of his books have been sold around the world – an extraordinary achievement for an Australian sociologist. Continue reading “Quiet Outrage inspires”
Safety footwear is a standard item of personal protective equipment (PPE) in many workplaces but it can be contentious.
The need for safety footwear
Some years ago I was asked to assess the need for safety footwear in a large manufacturing site. The need was obvious, there was a lot of manual handling of cumbersome objects and the factory was old so the design and layout was based on the lifting and moving of objects rather than a flow of production.
The company wanted this need verified as one of the office staff, clearly of some influence, would enter the factory in high heels and refused to wear safety footwear. This was a clear breach of the company’s safety policies and was causing unrest in the factory. The safety solution was clear
The politics of industrial relations will be a crucial element of Australia’s Federal election due later this year. The Federal Government has already used workplace safety as a reason for the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The trade union movement’s latest response is a campaign launched on April 10, 2016 accompanied by an online video. Continue reading “Trade unions temper language on ABCC safety role”
The last three of Radio National’s WorkLife podcasts have been uploaded. Episode 4, focusses on occupational health and safety (OHS) and is based around interviews with myself, Kevin Jones, and Professor Niki Ellis. Continue reading “WorkLife podcast addresses OHS”
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is on a pathway to an election. On March 21 2016, the Prime Minister wrote to the Governor-General to continue a convoluted process sparked by the Senate’s refusal to pass laws that will allow the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). One of the justifications for the need to pass the laws is to improve workplace safety, as in the excerpt below for the Prime Minsiter’s letter. This position is unjustified.
Continue reading “Australia’s ABCC argument is not about safety”