The Age newspaper reports on a safety initiative that has backfired. The writer of a safety awareness song for the Woolworths retail store has used a famous Australian tune and, possibly, breached copyright.
An unnamed member of staff wrote safety-themed lyrics to “Up There Cazaly”. The issue became page 3 news mainly due to Australia entering it’s football finals season and, perhaps, the proximity to the October 2010 Safe Work Australia Week. Continue reading “Safety song in copyright problem”
Tag: safety
Clarity of OHS laws in Australia
On 2 September 2010, an interview I undertook with Radio Atticus was broadcast in Australia (9 minute mark of the podcast) Radio Atticus is a law program on public radio in Australia.
As well as my comments, the reporter, Nat Cagilaba, interviewed Neil Foster of the University of Newcastle (referred to as Ian in the podcast I believe). We discuss the intended role and the current reality of OHS laws.
Comments on the audio are welcome.
Pressure grows for the release of oil drilling investigation
The Australian government has indicated that it will release a report into the Montara oil spill after the general election. However the Australian election result remains in doubt and, therefore, still no report.
The frustration over this stalling has begun to appear in the very conservative Australian newspaper, The Australian Financial Review (AFR). Once the business and financial community start complaining, a government knows something is serious.
In the AFR editorial on 1 September 2010 (not available online),
“The Borthwick report is likely to make some tough recommendations on safety procedures to prevent another spill. The inquiry heard extraordinary evidence that crucial work programs on the rig were sometimes scrawled on a whiteboard. PTTEP has a promised to review its procedures in the light of the deficiencies raised at the inquiry, but the government should look further afield. It is hard to imagine that PTTEP was a totally isolated case.” Continue reading “Pressure grows for the release of oil drilling investigation”
The cost of not having first aid
On 30 August 2010, WorkSafe Victoria released a media statement about a case in a Magistrates’ Court concerning the death of a worker. Nothing new in that but in this case first aid gains a prominence that is rarely seen because in this case adequate first aid was not provided. The uniqueness of the case justifies reproducing the media release in full:
“A Melbourne magistrate has described the failure of a Cheltenham company to seek first aid for a worker who hit his head and later died as ‘outrageous’.
Metal products manufacturer Pressfast Industries Pty Ltd was convicted and fined last week after a 2008 incident where a worker fell over and hit his head on concrete after being struck by a forklift.
The 60 year-old man was later found unconscious at work and died in hospital two days later.
“There was no qualified first aider on site, and the company failed to call an ambulance or seek first aid for the worker,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Strategic Programs Director Trevor Martin said. “The only staff member with first aid training was certified in 1984, and wasn’t alerted until it was too late,” he said.
In handing down his sentence, Magistrate Andrew Capell referred to the company’s decision not to seek help from the first aider, despite the expired certificate, as ‘outrageous’. Continue reading “The cost of not having first aid”
IOSH responds to OHS misperceptions
If ever there was an indication that the UK’s Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) is the leading OHS organisation around the world, its entry into the OHS debate generated by the new UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the inquiry into OHS by Lord Young confirms it. “Rebalancing Act?” is a terrific summary of the major points of contention in the debate.
But, IOSH is also pursuing a reform that should have a much greater impact on the OHS profession. It is establishing a professional accreditation scheme that should set the benchmark for other OHS professional associations elsewhere, particularly in Australia. The scheme is not revolutionary but the process IOSH has used to build the scheme is admirable, especially when compared with the Australian HaSPA program that has stagnated, apparently, due to organisational politics. Continue reading “IOSH responds to OHS misperceptions”
Australian Noise report. Is anyone listening?
Safe Work Australia has released a very important report called “Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Australia “.
The report confirms many of the challenges faced by OHS professionals. There is, among others,
- An over-reliance on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Noise is not taken seriously
- Effective noise control is undervalued
- Small and medium-sized companies pay less attention to the hazard
- Noise control is seen as expensive
- As hearing damage cannot be repaired, it is seen as inevitable
The report provides a detailed profile of NIHL and many will find the report an invaluable to gaining more attention to control measures in workplaces but just as mental health is both an occupational AND public health matter, so noise is affecting our private lives just as much as it is in our work lives.
As with many government safety reports, change is likely to come not from the report itself but how the media, the community and the OHS professions use the information to affect change.
Tooma takes aim at the Environment Minister over accountability
Participants at the 2010 Safety In Action conference and the 2010 ASSE Conference will be familiar with lawyer, Michael Tooma‘s faith in due diligence to improve safety management in Australia. In the lead-up to his appearance at another Australian OHS conference in October 2010 he has again restated his faith but this largely ignores the changed political context of OHS harmonisation on which the new Work Health and Safety laws are based.
I have mentioned Australia’s current peculiar political position elsewhere. The uncertainty of Federal politics overlaps and could greatly affect the OHS harmonisation process, or rather, its application. It seems even more likely that the Labour Governments in Queensland and New South Wales will fall at their next State elections rendering the fast becoming an ideal of OHS harmonisation dead.
Tooma (pictured right) makes no mention of the changed political reality in a recent media release concerning his upcoming conference appearance although he is willing to take a pot shot at the Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, over the lack of accountability over the deaths, fires and injuries that resulted from the botched home insulation scheme. Continue reading “Tooma takes aim at the Environment Minister over accountability”