research – Page 29 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

OHS challenges face the Australian taxi industry

The New South Wales Parliamentary has released the findings of its inquiry into the State’s taxi industry. Although OHS was not the focus of the inquiry, “working conditions” were included in the terms of reference and the report has made some safety recommendations. The taxi industry requires an innovative approach to OHS implementation in order to meet future driver and passenger demands.

The Committee has called for

“…an increased emphasis on occupational health and safety, industrial issues and insurance rights to better inform taxi drivers of their entitlements and responsibilities…”

even though the NSW Taxi Council stated that existing training exceeded national training standards. Perhaps the range of stakeholders consulted by the Council needs reviewing. Clearly training has been deficient in reality even if it matches national benchmarks. This calls into question one’s reliance on national training standards. Continue reading

OHS regulator reveals a blog about OHS fraud and crime

Spying on people can be entertaining as can be shown by the popularity of hidden camera video on tabloid news shows but there is always a whiff of unfairness and distaste about the practice.

For the last couple of months, Washington State’s Department of Labour & Industries has been running a blog written by its Fraud Prevention and Compliance Manager, Carl Hammersburg. The blog matches the remit of the regulatory authority and covers a range of industrial enforcement actions. Occasionally it has included its own video surveillance of potential workers’ compensation fraudsters.

On 28 April 2010, the blog,called “Nailed“, included video of Frankie Day who, as a resulted on the L&I investigation, was found guilty of theft and then jailed. Continue reading “OHS regulator reveals a blog about OHS fraud and crime”

Smoke-related heart attacks decline in England but how so for hotel workers?

The British Medical Journal has released a report into the effects of smoke-free workplaces on the rate of heart attacks in the English population. The report finds that a ban on smoking in workplaces has resulted in a 2.4% fall in heart attacks which equates to 12,000 people. This is good news but it could have been better, or more relevant to workplace safety issues.

The study conclusion acknowledges that

“The considerably smaller decline in admissions observed in England compared with many other jurisdictions probably reflects aspects of the study design and the relatively low levels of exposure to secondhand smoke in England before the legislation.” [emphasis added]

Low levels of cigarette smoke may have been the reality across all workplaces but this is unlikely to have been the case in English pubs, from personal experience.

Research, similar to that undertaken above, would be very useful if it was to assess the cardiovascular disorder rate in hotel workers where the smoke-free obligation has existed since July 2007. Hotel workers are a readily defined group who could not avoid exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke and a study of the health impacts of this sector could reinforce the wisdom of smoke-free legislation and could show how quickly a common social and public health hazard can be turned around.

The above study is good news, particularly for the 12,000 who may now have the chance to die from old age, but analysing a smaller, more targeted population sample in high exposure environments might have more international significance and application.

Kevin Jones

The Toowong cancer cluster and risk communication

The latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia (eMJA) has published an investigation into the possible cancer cluster at the Toowong television studios of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in late 2006.

Not surprisingly, given previous reports, the investigation has found that

“No statistically significant excess risk of breast cancer in ABC female employees was found across the Australian states and territories as a whole compared with their respective population incidences. A statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer was found among ABC female employees in Queensland, consistent with the findings in an earlier report.”

The Toowong incident created considerable concern amongst staff, to such an extent that the corporation decided to close the entire facility and relocate all the broadcasting processes. Unless this was already a corporate strategy the decision was brave, particularly when the initial investigations showed that the concern was not justified for Toowong specifically.

The ABC has an excellent timeline of media statements about the incident online.

Several issues from the latest report are worth noting. Continue reading “The Toowong cancer cluster and risk communication”

Prisons are another world when implementing workplace safety

The new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) into prisoner health and welfare makes no mention of workplace safety, even though most prisons in Australia have formal work programs for commercial gain.

The report “The health of Australia’s prisoners 2009” details the health and welfare status of Australian prisoners with some very confronting statistics that should be of more general concern to the community. The media release summarises some of the report’s findings:

“The report highlights a number of significant health issues. It shows that rates of chronic conditions, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and communicable diseases such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C, are significantly higher among prisoners than among the general population.

‘Of particular concern is the number of people who enter prison with mental health issues and high levels of psychological distress,’ said Ingrid Johnston of the AIHW’s Social and Indigenous Group. Continue reading “Prisons are another world when implementing workplace safety”

Even more caffeine research

There is a lot of research going on at the moment into coffee and caffeine. There seems to be no particular reason but perhaps the increasing sales of “energy drinks” may be relevant.

The latest caffeine-related research is reported in the online edition of Neuropsychopharmacology and is entitled –

“Association of the Anxiogenic and Alerting Effects of Caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and Habitual Level of Caffeine Consumption”

(This paper is on my bedside table next to an Inspector Rebus book and the new book from Chris Morphew – not)

This quite complex article is mentioned here as some newspapers and websites are likely publish some of the content of a media release on 3 June 2010 in the context of “another coffee story”. Research in this area can spark discussion in some media about the dangers and benefits of coffee, in a similar way to how people respond to reports of eating too many tomatoes that may turn you puce, for instance. Below are parts of the media release that is easiest to understand and are likely for the media to cover:

“The sensation of alertness that comes from a cup of coffee may be an illusion. Continue reading “Even more caffeine research”

A wicked OHS problem in more ways than one

A new survey on CEO attitudes to safety has been released by Peter Wagner & Associates entitled “Safety – A Wicked Problem, Leading CEOs discuss their views on OHS transformation“.

There is some interesting information in report but Wagner is being generous in the report’s title. There are some CEOs who seem knowledgeable on safety management who may be “leading”, but there is at least one participant who would not know safety from clay. Continue reading “A wicked OHS problem in more ways than one”

Tag: research

OHS challenges face the Australian taxi industry

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OHS regulator reveals a blog about OHS fraud and crime

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Smoke-related heart attacks decline in England but how so for hotel workers?

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The Toowong cancer cluster and risk communication

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Prisons are another world when implementing workplace safety

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Even more caffeine research

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A wicked OHS problem in more ways than one

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